Puella Magi Madoka Magica: The Bleach Story
by SweetsMaster04
Summary: Homura Akemi had been repeating those same events, over and over. One would think she already tried everything. One small change in her usual routine, however, and everything spiraled out of control; from the Incubators becoming completely unpredictable, to meeting people who call themselves 'Shinigami'.
1. Chapter 1

**Aaaand here's the rewrite, finally available on fanfiction . net ! (about time, too...). This will (hopefully) be a less-cringey version of my original idea...**

**This fanfiction takes place after the Bleach events of Xcution, and replaces the Thousand Year Blood War arc.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Puella Magi Madoka Magica or Bleach.**  
**I'd suggest to watch both the anime; there will be spoilers for Madoka Magica, and it'll be hard to understand this story otherwise.**

Homura Akemi opened her eyes to a rather peaceful environment. She was back in the hospital once more, where it all began. Back to Wednesday, March the sixteenth. The catastrophic events of the last timeline were still fresh in her mind, but she ignored them. It was time to move on. And so, she mentally prepared herself for another attempt.

Homura Akemi, a time-traveler, was already used to this seemingly endless cycle. She'd save Madoka Kaname, no matter what, or die trying. And for that to happen...well, she'd have to get out of the hospital bed, for starters. And heal her eyes and heart. And get ready for the day, as she still needed to go to Mitakihara.  
A part of her longed to have a normal life. No magic, no tragedy, just a quiet and uneventful life. Sure, it'd probably be boring, but at least she wouldn't have so many worries and - no, that thought process wouldn't get her anywhere. It was time she got up.

...

Homura finished showering and put on a new set of clothes. She took a look in the mirror. Before, probably years ago by now, she'd have seen a rather nervous and timid young girl. Those violet eyes would've been shimmering with life, her hair would be in those childish braids, and she'd be making feeble attempts to calm herself down for her first day of school. But now? She was practically the opposite, really. Dull violet eyes stared back at her, mostly devoid of emotion. Her facial expression looked slightly grim, like someone who had just been through hell, and her braids were undone, leaving her jet-black hair in all it's shining glory. Yep, pretty different all in all...

"Homu-chan! I brought breakfast! Hurry up or it'll get cold!", yelled a familiar voice outside.

"Just a minute."

Homura let a rare, faint smile come onto her face. Despite how stoic she'd been for a while, the other girl's presence had always calmed her. Well, that was to be expected, considering the fact that they were childhood friends.

...

"Thank you for the food, Mao."

"Anytime, Homu-chan"

Sitting and eating breakfast with her, was a notably short girl. She had maroon, wavy hair that went slightly past her shoulders and bangs that partly covered her left eye and large round burgundy-colored eyes. She, unlike Homura, had a slightly darker skin tone.  
She was rather cheerful and optomistic, no matter what situation she could find herself in.

"...Homu-chan? "

"Hmm?"

"Is something wrong? Your acting rather differently this morning..."

Right. Ever since Homura had changed her view on pretty much everything with the sole purpose of achieving her goal, Mao would notice right away at the start of every timeline due to her new attitude. From her point of view, Homura had gone to sleep as a meek, timid girl and woken up the next day as a much more mature, stoic stranger. Homura looked up, already knowing what was coming next...

"Well, I'm here if you'd like to talk about it..."

"It's alright. It's nothing serious."

Homura went back to eating. Mao would end it there -

"Repeating something over and over...it's really exhausting, as I'm sure you know. But why not take a break, or ask for help? You might need it; solitude isn't always the way to go, Homu-chan."

Homura looked up in surprise. Ok, this was new... But what on earth could the other girl possibly be talking about? Mao just giggled at her questioning gaze, and completely switched the topic, suddenly talking about how beautiful sakura trees were.

0.0

Elsewhere, two Puella Magi emerged from a labyrinth. The first, who had chin length light brown hair used the grief seed before tossing it over to her partner and dispelling her transformation. The other girl, who had her raven hair tied up in a shoulder-length ponytail, mimicked her actions before putting the grief seed in her school bag. It was good for one more use.

"Come on Karin we'll be late for school!"

"Yeah, whatever."

"Did you forget that we have a test on the first period?!"

"What?! Shit, come on Yuzu we gotta run!"


	2. Chapter 2

Toshiro Hitsugaya was quite irritated. His lieutenant slacked off once more, leaving him to be forced to do her work in her place at the last minute. He didn't get much rest after that episode since he, along with lieutenant Kuchiki and Substitute Shinigami Ichigo Kurosaki, had received a mission in Nagasaki.

Apparently there had been Vasto Lorde appearing in that area...which was worrying, really. The captain of the twelfth squad was to investigate the cause of this anomaly after they dealt with the immediate threat.  
As for their transportation... They ended up just taking the train after getting to Karakura through a Senkaimon - they had to tell Kurosaki's father about the whole thing, and they weren't in a rush...yet. They would have told him upon arrival, but it turned out that the man successfully made a few more clinics in different cities, and, being the boss, had to move around every now and then to make sure everything was going as it should.

Kurosaki and Kuchiki were in the two seats across the aisle, seemingly immersed in conversation - something about...eh, who knew? He didn't really bother trying to listen. It was probably something useless anyway.

"Excuse me."

Toshiro looked up to find a black haired girl, likely around the Kurosaki twins' age in appearance. She had a stoic expression that vividly reminded him of Captain Kuchiki, and was it just him or did she seem older than her appearance would suggest?... He didn't sense any reiatsu on her, so it was probably just his headache messing with him. He suddenly realized he had just been addressed, and figured he may as well answer.

"What is it?"

"Do you mind if I sit here?"

"Go ahead"

She raised a brow before sitting down, and it was only then that it dawned on him that he'd been glaring at her the whole time. Not that he cared - they wouldn't see each other again after they left the train.

0.0

Hours later, Homura had already settled into her 'new' appartement, and started planning her actions in this timeline. It always seemed futile, as someone would ruin it one way or another, but she did it anyway.

A new grief seed was in order, as she'd used a lot of magic last time in a desperate attempt to fend off a rather enraged Kirika (who had come around to avenge Oriko, and unfortunately managed to figure out her magic) right after she barely managed to defeat Walpurgisnacht with the help of Yuma Chitose, a relatively young Puella Magi, and Matsuri Hinata, who was apparently the only survivor of the Hoozuki Quartet a few years before, and was currently seventeen years old.  
In the end, when Kirika realized she couldn't defeat Homura, she killed Madoka instead, thus forcing Homura to go back once more. So much for going into other cities to ask for assistance.

So, what next? Well, she'd need to distract Madoka somehow so she wouldn't contract to save Amy, for starters, but then came the hard part: the other Puella Magi. Killing Oriko wasn't an option since it would be traced back to her, one way or another. This meant that either Madoka or Kirika would hear about it, which wouldn't have good consequences, with either the pink-haired girl thinking she was a killer or a similar outcome as the last timeline's.  
The Sojus wouldn't even know she existed if she didn't grab their attention or make her intentions too obvious too soon to the incubators, so they'd be relatively easy to avoid if she was careful. Mami and Sayaka weren't as difficult to predict as Oriko, but were quite annoying nonetheless because of how easy it was to make them go insane or despair.

...She would have to start by getting that grief seed. Normally she wouldn't be so quick to do so, but with that possibility of Mami challenging her hanging over her head because of refusing to let the girls contract, she figured she was better safe than sorry.

With that in mind, she exited her house and transformed. She'd already sensed a witch, one she didn't recognize, and it wasn't far.

...Well, it _wasn't_.

It apparently realized it had been spotted , and immediately started to flee. Homura, refusing to let it leave, followed it...and eventually crossed the border between Mitakihara and Nagasaki.


	3. Chapter 3

Rukia Kuchiki could distantly sense Ichigo and Captain Hitsugaya fighting off a pair of Vasto Lordes. As much as she wanted to go help, they were captain class Shinigami. They were unlikely to lose unless they did something stupid, so she stayed by her orders and continued to patrol her assigned area.

She certainly hoped that the fact that the Vasto Lordes had been appearing far more often than they should was a mere coïncidence, as naive as that may seem. After all, if it did turn out to be someone deliberately bringing them to the world of the living, this could become extremely dangerous very quickly, and they'd need to get rid of the individual as fast as possible.

Rukia suddenly saw something move rather quickly out the corner of hee eye, and stopped. That was rather fast for anything normal, but any allies she knew of weren't around...or at least, they weren't supposed to be. She didn't sense anything, though, which was strange enough to ring a few warning bells. If it were an ally, why go through the trouble of masking their reiatsu? And if not...well, who could it be?  
It reappeared again, this time much further ahead, and Rukia decided then and there to sate her curiosity. She wasn't planning on taking long anyway...

She flash-stepped as quietly as she could towards the individual. A teenager, from what she could see, in a bizarre outfit.  
Wait...  
She could've sworn she'd seen that girl not long ago... Where? Or did she just see someone similar?

Either way, if the individual wasn't older than she seemed, she was incredibly good at masking her reiatsu for someone so young. But again: why bother masking it? Rukia didn't give it much thought; she may as well follow the ravenette to wherever she was going. Who knew? She may find some clues here and there.

The raven haired teen continued jumping from building to building, occasionally disappearing and appearing much farther away - teleportation? - Before eventually coming to a sudden stop and dropping down into an alleyway. Took her long enough - Rukia had been starting a mental debate on whether or not she should've just made a little remark about the individual to the captain.

The young girl walked into an abandoned building, and waved her hand in front of her. The Shinigami blinked, surprised, as a round, strange looking version of a garganta-like portal opened, and the girl she'd been following stepped in.

The lieutenant hesitated. Did this mean that the individual was some sort of variant of a hollow?...could she have been the one responsible for the Vast Lorde..? Or maybe she was completely wrong, and this was something else entirely?  
She had no idea where that portal would lead her to (though she was half expecting it to be Hueco Mundo), but on the other hand, this opportunity to discover more probably wouldn't come around a second time...  
She prepared herself to use kido if it turned out to be somewhere dangerous, and hoped she'd be able to get back afterward.

Rukia reluctantly entered...and was met by something she definitely hadn't been expecting.

...Ok, so if one went into a garganta, one would find themselves in the vast desert of Hueco Mundo. A senkaimon? Soul Society. And apparently, if one went into a completely random looking strange portal a teenage girl had just entered, one would find themselves in a world of insanity. _Literally_.

She was standing on a floor of a gigantic... Uh, plastic bag...?...that was adorned with black and white tiles (which were as flexible as the baggish-floor). When she looked up there was...a blue tissue roof? And a brown liquid was dripping from the "tissue roof", turning into strange blob creatures once they landed.  
There were no walls in sight, and it was quite foggy in the distance, so she couldn't really see anything very far.

She could, however, hear gunshots to her right. She turned around to try and see if she could leave, only to find no portal leading back. Just great. She was stuck here.  
Rukia figured she had nothing to lose at that point, and proceeded towards the gunshots. The second she took a step, however, the blobs immediately attacked her, disintegrating skin upon contact.  
The lieutenant grit her teeth in pain and irritation as she pushed forward, firing kido to keep them at bay. She managed to catch up to the girl within a few minutes, not quite surprised at the fact that she'd been the one using guns the whole time.

The ceiling dropped more and more blobs the farther they went, before stopping suddenly, about fifteen minutes later.

The girl continued forward, obviously cautious. She threw away the gun she had in hand and pulled out a much bigger one from a circular object on her forearm.  
Everything was eerily quiet, making Rukia become quite tense. Something clearly wasn't right.  
The tiles under their feet faded to gray, the floor gradually became more stable, and the now seemingly normal ceiling was becoming rather low.  
Not enough to make them have to duck, but it made Rukia much more aware of the limited space she had left.

The floor slowly went from opaque to translucent as they went, before cracks started to appear wherever they'd step.

She felt the urge to leave, but ignored it.

...and the floor broke under their feet, the shards disappearing into thin air.

Rukia prepared herself for the fall... Only to find that she was just floating. Was there seriously no gravity anymore? Well, she was in an insane world, so frankly, it wasn't particularly appalling in hindsight.

A strange sound, one resembling a hybrid of nails scratching on sandpaper and breaking glass (did that even make sense?) knocked her out of her stupor, coming from above for an instant before a much larger, black version of the creatures that had been assaulting them before came from below (yeah that made no sense whatsoever). A feeling if dread washed over her, and she immediately took out her zanpakuto.

It didn't get the chance to actually do anything, however, because the teenager dissappeared, and multiple explosions that came seemingly out of nowhere killed it.  
The strange place they were in wobbled out of existence, and they stood in the abandoned building once more. A strange egg-spindle thing fell on the ground between them.

The girl turned around, picked up, and pressed it against a gem Rukia hadn't noticed before on the back of her hand.  
Rukia simply looked on, numb, as she stared back at her with a blank expression.  
Rukia managed to regain her voice moments later though.

"What was all that? Why are you masking your reiatsu? _Who_ _are_ _you_?"

The girl raised a brow, and simply said:

"Who I may be is none of your business, and I know not of this 'reiastu' you speak of. No need to get angry ; I'm leaving your territory anyway."

"Wha- territory?!"

"Goodbye."

"_Wait_-!"

Rukia could only stare, dumbfounded, at where the girl was mere seconds before dissappearing into thin air.

What. The. _Hell?_

This was definitely going straight to the headcaptain.


	4. Chapter 4

Toshiro's mind was buzzing with questions. What lieutenant Kuchiki had reported at the captain and lieutenant's meeting was absolutely delusional and illogical to the point of insanity, but he was quite confident the young woman wouldn't lie about something like _that. _He was staying in Karakura while Kuchiki went to Mitakihara; she was supposed to investigate the entire mess. If help was needed, he'd be the one to intervene. But at the moment, he was staying with the Kurosakis since he had nothing else to do.  
Anyway, he was absentminded to the point that he didn't even hear Karin talking to him until she got frustrated and gave him a good punch in the arm.

"What do you want, Kurosaki?! And it's Hitsugaya to you!"

"Uh-huh. Whatever. What's wrong with you?! You've been moping around like you're tryna solve some kind of million-dollar dilemma or something!", exclaimed Karin, looking quite irritated.  
Toshiro just rolled his eyes. Sure, she was his best friend, but there were times at which he wished she could see the obvious: if he wanted her to know, he would have told her already.

"Classified."

"Aww come on!" *sigh* "... does it have anything to do with the mission you were on today?"

"I just told you: classified."

"Is it _really _classified or do you just have a stick up your ass?!"

"Why you-!"

The two argued while Yuzu watched the whole ordeal rather awkwardly. It continued for another five to ten minutes before an exasperated Karin shot a look to her twin. Yuzu stared at Toshiro, her eyes looking glassy for a second before she went back to normal...and became pale as if she'd have a panic attack. Karin's expression mirrored hers a second later. Weird. But hey, Karin wasn't pestering him anymore...

0.0

The twins were at a loss. They hadn't anticipated the possibility of the Shinigami ever discovering Puella Magi.  
They used Yuzu's telepathic abilities to think of any ways they could find to deter the Shinigami from looking further into the issue before abandoning the idea. If the Shinigami hadn't found out about _them _yet, they'd just have to stay quiet and pretend nothing happened. They'd discuss the topic a little more with their mentor for a long-term solution.

0.0

Mami Tomoe walked down the empty alley, where she could feel the newcomer's presence. Under normal circumstances, she wouldn't mind having another Puella Magi in her territory - there were more than enough grief seeds, and the other girl was a potential friend - but she was especially cautious this time around since Kyubey had warned that he didn't remember contracting this girl, and that she was very aggressive towards him.

And that perplexed Mami. _Why would someone attack an individual who gave them a wish? Kyubey had basically done a favor for her, one that many other girls didn't get the opportunity to receive!... Did something happen? Was she like Kyoko?_  
She cut her thought process short when the individual entered her line of sight. Kyubey, who had been on her shoulder up until that point, jumped off, staying at a safe distance. Not that she could blame him.  
The girl had obviously been expecting her - she was waiting in the middle of the alley after all.  
The blonde cleared her throat and spoke first. The fact that she was a potential enemy didn't mean that she wouldn't try to be diplomatic.

"While I'm not against sharing, I'd have preferred it if you had come to notify me of your appearance sooner. So, who might you be?"

"Homura Akemi. I'm planning to stay in Mitakihara for at least a few years. My apologies for not having said anything sooner; I had to finish moving in.  
Because of the fact that a Walpurgisnacht is coming and I have no where else to go, I'd like to request your assistance against it. I know it's a lot to ask, but I don't have any other allies. "

Mami blinked. The girl had answered without any visible emotion, but didn't seem to be nearly as aggressive as Kyubey had described her to be. In fact, she seemed to be quite the pacifist, going so far as to apologize for the fact that she hadn't come to meet her any sooner. And she even asked for help against the upcoming Walpurgisnacht to protect the city!  
Maybe she wasn't so bad after all?

The fifteen year old gave her a sunny smile, and offered for the other girl to come over to her place for cake and tea. The ravenette accepted, but warned her that she'd only be able to stay for about half an hour because she needed to prepare for her first day of school. That was fine.

0.0

How inconvenient. The incubator watched as the two Puella Magi left together. Homura Akemi apparently had a completely different attitude towards fellow girls. Had she have been as aggressive as she was towards Incubators, Mami Tomoe would have most likely been able to eliminate her. She was proving to be quite the obstacle, as she'd already managed to keep it from contracting Madoka Kaname a total of five times.

But the Incubators were patient; an opportunity would present itself. Eventually.


	5. Chapter 5

_She ran down the hall as fast as she could, not quite sure what she was looking for. She needed to hurry, though she didn't know why._

_She ran up the stairs as fast as her legs would take her towards the exit at the top, and opened the door without hesitation. _

_It was horrifying. Destroyed buildings were floating everywhere, as though suspended by an unknown force. The storm was harsh and unrelenting. There were what seemed to be silhouettes of hundreds of girls, dancing and screaming in the air... But there was something off about them ( If being able to float and the maniacal laughter wasn't enough of an indication...) . And finally, in the middle of all the chaos, was the one she was absolutely sure was the cause of all of it: a giant upside-down doll with half it's head cut off, an unnerving smirk, strange horn-like ears and a large blue gown. The creature was so big it covered a good portion of the now ruined Mitakihara_.

_Out the corner of her eye, she saw a flash of purple, and a black haired girl her age wearing clothing that looked a lot like cosplay flew straight towards the monster, obviously intending to attack it. A building went straight for her, forcing her to dodge. She landed on another one - one that was still standing - and nearly got smashed yet again._

_She didn't know where she got the courage to speak but..._

_"This is horrible! This shouldn't be happening!"_

_She noticed a cat-like creature nearby that immediately answered :_

_"It can't be helped. If that girl gives up, it's all over._  
_But you can change all of this."_

_"..me..?"_

_"Why yes! Just make a contract with me, and become a Puella Magi!"_

_She was uncertain for a moment, before steeling herself in determination. _

_There was a flash of pink._

_Then everything went black_.

0.0

Madoka Kaname woke up with a start, before seeing that she was just in her room. Oh, thank goodness. It was all just a dream. The pinkette went down the stairs and noticed her father in the garden.

"Good morning Papa! Have you seen Mama?"

"Good morning Madoka. She isn't awake yet. Why don't you go help Tatsuya wake her up?"

"Okay!"

Once Madoka woke up her mom - who screamed like a vampire when she yanked the blanket off her - brushed her teeth, prepared her schoolbag and said goodbye to her mother, brother and father, she ran out of the house, fearing she was late.

She found her two close friends - Hitomi, a polite green-haired girl with wealthy parents, and Sayaka, a blue-haired tomboy - waiting for her.

Everything went as usual; Sayaka teased her until Hitomi, who was awkwardly watching the entire time, got the two to stop, and they entered school not too long afterwards.

...

Madoka and the other students of her class listened awkwardly to Mrs. Saotome's useless speech about husbands and fried eggs. She even had Nakazawa answer a question about whether the egg should've been served sunny side up or not.  
Once that was out of the way, she introduced two transfer students (shouldn't that have come before the rant...?).  
Madoka was momentarily shocked at the first one's appearance. She looked exactly like the ravenette she'd seen in her dream who'd been fighting the colossal creature. The pinkette shook her head; what were the odds? Seriously? She turned to look at the other girl, who was shorter than Madoka herself. Like the other transfer student, she had dark hair, pale skin and violet eyes, but that was where the similarities ended. The shorter girl was smiling, and looked quite friendly, unlike the taller one with much longer hair who was glaring at her as though she were a puzzle... Did something happen between the two? The pinkette hoped that wasn't the case.

"Please welcome Homura Akemi and Rukia Kuchiki!"


	6. Chapter 6

Rukia pretended to ignore the glare the ravenette - Akemi Homura - was sending her, and kept up the act of being a friendly transfer student.  
She wondered if ruling out the possibility of said girl being older than she looked was the correct way to go... She was attending classes for children her age, but that could've been an act to keep up appearances. Wouldn't that mean she knew she was being watched and applied for the school in advance? Or was she just overthinking things?

The woman sighed. She decided she'd keep the possibility in mind, but wouldn't act on it unless it was proven accurate. The teacher let both of them go to their seats and continued class, although Rukia was only partly listening, intent on discreetly observing Akemi's behavior.

...

Eventually, it was lunch break, and all the students immediately crowded Rukia and Akemi, asking too many questions at a time, clearly eager to get to know them. Rukia had a hard time answering all the questions she was bring asked, and in no time at all, she lost sight of Akemi. Fantastic. What a way to start her assignment.  
Just when she began to think the crowd was becoming overwhelming, a loud voice interrupted all the excited teens.

"Come on, give her some space! Can't you see you're all practically on top of her?!"

The crowd of students mumbled apologies and left, leaving a girl with blue eyes and short sky-blue hair approach her desk.

"Hey! I'm Sayaka Miki. Sorry about how they were all pretty much swarming you; they're like that whenever someone new makes the mistake of transferring into our class... How are ya?"

The Shinigami plastered a smile on her face, her act at full capacity.

"Why, I'm feeling splendid! A new school, new classmates, a new uniform... A miss my old friends, of course, but right now I couldn't be happier!"

Rukia could clearly visualize Ichigo faceplanting at how supposedly fake (and perhaps ridiculous) her " friendly, innocent, and optomistic new transfer student" act was. She barely refrained from glaring just thinking about it - her acting was at Hollywood level, she was sure of it! - and refocused on what Miki was saying just in time to realize she'd been invited to the mall with her and her friends later in the day.  
Rukia hesitated for a second, likely prompting her classmate to think she was probably nervous about the other individuals coming along.

"Don't worry it's not like we'll bite your head off; it's just me and two friends!... In fact, maybe we could even invite the other transfer student too, I mean, she seems pretty cool. Plus, I get the feeling something's going on between her and Madoka - did you see how much both of them kept peeking at each other?"

The short woman was willing to go the second the bluenette mentioned the ravenette. It'd be the perfect opportunity to observe her instead of having to stalk her, and she could get on good terms with some of the people around her.

"I think that's simply too good an offer to turn down. I'll be there!"

"Score! I knew you'd come around!"

Both of them ate their lunches, with mostly Miki telling Rukia all sorts of hilarious shenanigans she and her childhood friends had caused.  
She noticed a pink haired girl come into the classroom and eat her lunch looking troubled, but didn't pay her much attention. Sure, she had some reiatsu, but she didn't really stand out in comparison to the other students. Miki clearly hadn't noticed her momentary distraction, simultaneously stuffing her face and telling her about how she'd pranked her richer childhood friend on one occasion only for it to backfire spectacularly.


	7. Chapter 7

During lunch break at Karakura middle school, on the roof, Karin and Yuzu both waited for their friend's (mentor's) answer to their situation. All three girls were quite aware of how serious it was, and the twins' bentos were long forgotten.  
They both hated having to burden her like this - she literally had to leave Tokyo that morning to get there once they called - but the girls couldn't ignore the problem forever. The Gotei 13 was dangerous, after all.  
Yuzu finally decided to prompt her into answering, considering that no one had spoken for a tense few minutes, and they'd have to get back to class soon.

"Well, Mao-san? What do you think?"

Burgundy colored eyes met her brown ones, before looking away.

"...Honestly? I'm not quite sure. Normally my reaction would be to run for the hills; nothing good can come out of this. But... The description that Shinigami...Kuchiki Rukia, was it?... Had given of that Puella Magi perfectly matches the description of a friend of mine, which means that I can't just abandon her. You won't be willing to abandon your brother and father either, correct? "

Both girls nodded without hesitation.

"Well, we don't have much of a choice then. We'll have to come clean eventually."

Yuzu stared at her with wide eyes.

"ARE YOU INSANE?! DON'T YOU KNOW WHAT THEY DID WITH THE QUINCY?! THEY'LL KILL US ALL, REGARDLESS OF WHETHER WE'RE RELATED TO ICHIGO OR THE SHIBAS!", yelled Karin.

Mao patiently waited for Karin to calm down, before continuing.

"I'll have a talk with Homu-chan, since she clearly is unaware of the existence of the Soul Society. After that, we'll need to get as many allies - preferably strong ones - as fast as we possibly can.  
Remember how you two told me your brother had an influence on the Gotei 13? We'll put that to use. Your brother and father will be the first two Shinigami to know about this. They won't try to off you, and you could probably even word everything in a way that will make you look like innocent victims of this entire system. This will help you get their close friends and allies - such as Urahara Kisuke - on our side early on, in case things go south.  
I'll negotiate with other girls and get on Kuchiki's good side during this time. Does that work for you?"

Karin nodded grimly, while Yuzu cringed; both had realized Mao was trying to prepare for the worst case scenario: a genocide.

"If...that happens... Will we have to work with the incubators...? I mean, as much as I hate the idea of working with the monsters that condemned us, if they have the powers or technology to turn us into soul gems, they'd probably be useful allies, right?"

Karin halfheartedly glared at Yuzu, knowing that her sister was right but seriously hoping things wouldn't come to that.

"...Even if we work with the incufuckers, there's no way in bloody hell I'm trusting them again.", she snarled.

"That's fair. I'd rather leave that as a last resort, however", conceded the maroon haired girl.

While the solution the three Puella Magi had come up with wasn't exactly comforting, the twins were glad they at least had a more or less concrete plan for the situation.  
Once the tension was gone, Mao immediately grabbed Karin's bento and flash-stepped to the other side of the roof with it, saying that she was hungry, would probably leave just a piece of sushi for Karin as a sign of 'mercy' and that she'd be grateful she left any. Karin, being Karin, immediately flash-stepped to reclaim her lunch, only to realize the more experienced teen had been expecting that. Instead of having her bento safely in her arms, a foot went into her face, and she could hear her maroon haired friend cackling as she escaped with her prize.  
Results? Yuzu awkwardly ate and watched as the two girls flash-stepped all over the place in a modified game of tag while fervently hoping no one would come to the roof and see them.

The school bell rang just a few minutes later. Mao, having eaten pretty much all of Karin's lunch, thanked Yuzu for the meal and left; knowing her, it was likely she went to make preparations to temporarily leave Tokyo, since she preferred to do things as soon as possible.


	8. Chapter 8

What the twins had told her wouldn't end well. She could feel it.

Mao sighed as she shut her apartment door behind her.  
So, what now?  
She'd given the twins a little plan for now to ease their concerns, but they were bound to have to modify it at some point, as it was far from flawless.

Pinching the bridge of her nose in frustration - seriously, there was _always_ a new problem - the teen made a beeline for her room and started packing her more important belongings into a bag. If her gut feeling was correct, she'd have to either crash at Homura's or be constantly moving around for a while.  
Then there was the fact that the Incubators were more than likely to be aware of the girls' current predicament. They were likely to complicate things even more, like the bastards they were, just to eliminate whoever they'd decide to deem as "obstacles". The maroon-haired girl decided to stop the thought process there.

_'I see you are willing to become allies once more.'_

Mao barely acknowledged the Incubator, walking past it and arranging her hair. If she was going to make a good impression, she couldn't meet Kuchiki with her messy hairstyle; that family was one of the noble clans. Even if this woman in particular wasn't strict, it could affect her reputation with some of the more powerful people of the Soul Society.  
The Incubator, as if sensing her thoughts, continued despite the clear indication that she wanted to be alone.

_'...There's an eighty-nine percent chance your attempt to become friendly with the Shinigami will fail according to statistics.'_

Mao frowned slightly, well aware of the fact that the Incubator was trying to dissuade her from meeting the Shinigami, but also knowing that they never lied. She decided to play along for now though; might as well squeeze as much information out of it as she could. Even Incubators could be tricked after all...

"What statistics?"

_'Statistics from past encounters, of course.'_

It was being vague. That was quite annoying.

"Which encounters? I'm quite sure Puella Magi haven't already encountered Shinigami..."

The Incubator flicked its tail, seeming to like where the conversation was going. Something wasn't right.

_'As a matter in fact that has happened! We just made sure to eliminate all those involved.'_

Mao froze, a bead of sweat forming on her forehead. Was that a _threat_?!

"...What...?"

_'We made an experiment, both for future references and to eliminate the immediate threat. Operation Quincy was a huge success; even though the grand majority of our creations were annihilated, we were able to reach our objective: every Shinigami who'd been aware of the Puella Magi system was eliminated. Every Puella Magi of the generation was eliminated as well. It was the worst war Soul Society had ever faced, and the worst genocide the Puella Magi could have imagined!'_

"...And you were never discovered, I presume...?"

_'That is correct. Even the Quincy themselves were unaware of our existence thanks to a few memory wipes. I'm sure you understand your position now, Suzuki Mao.'_

And with that, the Incubator left the girl to her own devices.

She snarled, a dark look on her face, before brightening up and acting cheery once more. She couldn't afford to despair. She wouldn't be able to help anyone if she died. She'd just have to figure something out.  
Somehow.

Mao gave herself one last look in the mirror. Instead of seeing the usual, slightly messy wavy hair that'd be partly covering her eye, she now had most of her bangs gathered up in a braid done close to the crown of her head. The bangs that weren't in the braid framed the side of her face, while the rest of her hair was now in a low side ponytail.  
It wasn't the hairstyle she preferred, but it'd have to do.

Now she wasn't just trying to get on Soul Society's good side. No, now, she was trying to get an entire spiritual military organization on her side for an upcoming war against beings that could potentially annihilate all signs of life _anywhere_.

_No pressure_.


	9. Chapter 9

_Homura stared at the four girls in disbelief, desperately trying to wrap her head around what she just heard. Did Sayaka - Miki Sayaka, the incredibly annoying pest that despised her - really just invite her to come along with her friends...? _

_To say that she was surprised would be the understatement of the entire freaking millenia._

_She looked at Kuchiki - the one most likely to be responsible for such a change - who seemed to be assessing her reaction, then at a nervous Madoka, a calm Hitomi, and finally Sayaka, who was clearly excited to hear her answer. Could this get any stranger?_

_"I... I suppose I can come..."_

_Sayaka beamed, more hyped than ever._

_"Yessss!"_

And that was how Homura found herself in the mall with the girls.

Madoka wasn't as timid around her anymore, meaning that while she was alright with befriending her and Kuchiki, she clearly dismissed what Homura told her earlier.  
Sayaka was visibly quite absorbed in whatever shenanigans she was talking about; the ravenette wasn't quite paying attention, however, as she was busy keeping track of their surroundings to make sure the Incubators wouldn't try to make their move at that moment, however unlikely that may seem.  
Hitomi, on the other hand, was listening to every word Sayaka was saying, giggling from time to time.  
Kuchiki seemed confortable and probably even happy, though she didn't miss the brief glances she shot her way every now and then.

Kuchiki Rukia was a mystery. She clearly had some kind of magic - proof of that was how capable she was of defending herself in the witch's labyrinth, where she first met her - but she couldn't find her Soul Gem. What's more, the mark every Puella Magi would have on the nail of their left ring finger was nowhere to be found, and Homura couldn't sense her magic at all. She did, however, feel a strange aura emanating from her. It fluctuated differently depending on the girl's mood, but was tighty controlled. It also felt rather cold, and reminded her of a cool winter day.  
This was all strange, to say the least.  
As far as Homura knew, anyone with magic had to be a Puella Magi. But, then again, this could be another piece of information the Incubators had kept from her for their own benefit... In which case, she wanted to know more.  
If Madoka could defend herself without becoming a Puella Magi, it'd be much easier to prevent her death since she wouldn't be as vulnerable.

"Hey, Akemi?"

Homura snapped out of her thoughts and looked to see that the person talking to her was the very girl she'd been thinking about. Knowing that she got Homura's attention, Kuchiki continued,

"Where did you get that ring? It's beautiful..."

Her eyes narrowed slightly at the shorter individual. The question could mean she wasn't aware of Puella Magi, backing up her assumption and explaining why she seemed so confused the other day.  
Hitomi's brow twitched in slight confusion.

"What ring...? She isn't wearing any..."

"What do you mean?! It's right there!", said Sayaka, oblivious to the fact that Hitomi simply couldn't see it.

"But I don't see any... Well, I need to get going or I'll be late for my lessons. Goodbye!" said the limenette as she rushed her way out of the restaurant.

Homura noticed Kuchiki's eyes narrow as though she'd just figured something out, but she didn't say anything.  
Sayaka, who dropped the topic of the ring entirely, sighed.

"Maaan I'm glad I wasn't born a rich girl. All those extra lessons would totally drive me crazy!", she chuckled as she stretched.

"Oh Sayaka-chan..." muttered Madoka, bemused.

The bluenette stood up. "Are you all up to coming to the music store with me today?"

All three of them replied positively, though Madoka asked if it was for Kyosuke. Homura decided that if Sayaka was going to try to befriend her, she may as well at least act friendly to give Sayaka some incentive to actually be willing to listen to her in the future.  
Kuchiki got a mischievous gleam in her eye the second Madoka mentioned Kyosuke, and before Sayaka got the chance to answer, she blurted:

"Kyosuke? Is that your boyfriend?"

"W-wha?! No!", sputtered Sayaka

"Your crush?"

"No!"

"Then...*gasp*... Could this be?! You're married at your age?!"

"NO!"

"No need to be shy! How's he like? Handsome face? Nice abs? Tall? Or is he just dreamy?"

"I - I don't _like _him! He's just a friend!", the poor teen spat, blushing furiously.

"_Reeeaaaallly_?"

Madoka laughed at their antics while Homura just smiled. Annoying or not, she'd definitely missed being friends with Sayaka.

...

"Ah, so you're not interested in anything?", asked Kuchiki, who had bought five different Cds of different rock bands, claiming that they were definitely the coolest.  
Homura gave her a sideways glance and just said she only came to continue hanging out with her new friends... It was still strange not to be alienated by those very girls though.

Madoka was listening to plenty of different songs, while Sayaka continued to look for a CD of a certain musician Kyosuke probably liked. Homura just watched, only talking when she was spoken to. While she enjoyed the peace, she didn't let her guard down. The witch was bound to appear any moment, like every timeline.  
She could clearly feel Kuchiki scrutinizing her every move, but she would deal with that later, as she had more pressing issues.

The ravenette took a look at the time on her phone, and decided to approach the area she knew she'd find the witch at despite the fact that Madoka, Sayaka and Kuchiki almost certainly would follow her.  
She figured she'd use the opportunity to explain the Puella Magi system.  
In return, Kuchiki would have to explain how she got her abilities.

0.0

Sayaka finally found the CD she'd been looking for when she noticed Akemi start to walk away. Assuming the other teen was headed to the bathroom, she didn't say anything...

Until she passed it, not even taking notice of it being there.

Confused but curious, Sayaka nudged Madoka and pointed towards the ravenette while holding a finger to her mouth. The pinkette, though visibly worried, got the message and stayed quiet.  
Both girls followed Akemi, pulling Kuchiki along once they reached her.  
Soon, they found themselves walking into prohibited areas, and Madoka seemed to look more and more stressed - likely because she wasn't fond of breaking the rules - and Kuchiki got a much more serious expression on her face. If Sayaka didn't know better, she'd think Kuchiki knew what was going on.

For what felt like a long time, everything was silent. only sound for what felt like mileswas their footsteps, giving them a sense of unease.

Madoka gasped and Sayaka's eyes widened when Akemi's ring suddenly turned into a brightly glowing gem in her hand. Kuchiki immediately seemed to come to a realization, and Sayaka just couldn't stay quiet anymore.

"Uh... What the _hell_?"

Akemi glanced back at them, before cooly saying:

"Ah. I didn't notice you following me, or I'd have told you to stay behind. It's too late now, it's too close. Stay back. I'll protect you."

The words barely registered in Sayaka's mind, as an overwhelming feeling of vulnerability overcame her for no apparent reason. Her instinct told her to _run_.

She resisted the temptation to abandon the other girls.

And the world morphed around them, turning into a nightmare.


	10. Chapter 10

Sayaka clung to Madoka with a death grip. This was beyond insanity... And it made her wonder if she was hallucinating despite fearing for her life.

"T-this is just a n-nightmare... Right..?", she stammered, hoping to wake up any minute.  
But she didn't.  
Madoka didn't answer, trembling in her grasp.  
Strange giant cotton balls with cartoonish mustaches appeared all around them, thorny vines with giant scissors accompanying them and snapping menacingly. It didn't take a genius to know what they were for.  
Before they could get too close, however, Akemi's gem erupted in a flash of purple, enveloping her and sending a gust of wind in the area surrounding her. Once the light cleared, she was... Uh, wearing cosplay?! Seriously?! Had the situation not have been life-threatening, the bluenette would've face-planted. What was next? Magical girl crap?!

The teen's mind came to a screeching halt when Akemi pulled a machine gun - _a real freaking machine gun _\- out of a small round mini excuse of a shield and shot the lights out of the creatures.

So. Actual magical girl crap.  
That was it. Sayaka was positive the situation couldn't get any more bizarre.

Until Kuchiki took out the weirdest candy dispenser with a chappy on it she'd ever seen, ate a candy, and came out of her body and told it to help fend off the monsters. Literally.

The scene must have shocked Madoka as well, as she'd become still as well, just staring at what was happening.

What the hell?

0.0

Rukia cut through as many of the strange creatures as she could, flash-stepping relatively often to be more efficient. Why was this one so different? And how did they end up there _without _going through a portal?  
She figured the questions would have to wait ; the Shinigami wasn't about to risk distracting the teen because of her petty impatience.

Within seconds, the majority of the cotton beasts were gone, and to her surprise, the area morphed back to the location they'd been at. With a flash of purple, Akemi went back to her school uniform. Assuming that that meant it was safe, Rukia returned to her gigai.

"Hmph. It seems it ran away.", Akemi stated, flicking her hair over her shoulder.

She stared back at Rukia, giving her a look that meant she owed her an explanation, before turning to Kaname and Miki, who were obviously both shaken and very confused.

Rukia was about to ask if the two girls were alright before she heard someone land nearby.

"Oh, hello Akemi-san! It seems you've already handled the situation..."

Rukia looked up to see a blonde teen roughly the same age as the others, wearing western-style strange clothing that had a yellow theme. She didn't have any reiatsu, like Akemi, yet she was clearly able to fight, judging by the musket in her hand.  
The girl blinked, taking notice of them (it seemed she'd only been paying attention to Homura until then).

"Ah, forgive my manners! I haven't introduced myself have I? My name is Mami Tomoe."

Akemi cleared her throat.

"These are Rukia Kuchiki, Madoka Kaname and Sayaka Miki. My classmates."

"It's very nice to meet you.", replied Tomoe with a warm smile. She gave them a thoughtful look, before adding:  
"You all must be confused... Well then, we should go somewhere a little more comfortable to discuss this, yes?"

Akemi nodded. "I'm willing to invite all of you to my apartment to explain all of this..." she gave Rukia a pointed look "... And I'm quite sure some of you would have some explanations to do as well."

Rukia sighed in defeat. Of course Akemi wouldn't let that slip. She supposed it was only fair, and fervently hoped she'd be making new allies. She looked at Tomoe. It seemed Akemi wasn't the only individual with strange abilities but no reiatsu.

...

The walk to Akemi's apartment didn't take long at all, but the tension in the air was rather thick. Kaname seemed confused and worried, while Miki was much more guarded and alert, in contrast to both Akemi and Tomoe who were happily having a conversation (meaning that a grinning Tomoe did most of the talking as a stoic Akemi would give short replies whenever necessary).  
Rukia herself was slightly nervous. If the two decided to go against her, it would be in their territory, in an environment they'd know much better than her. Not that the ravenette doubted her abilities - but being ganged up on in foreign territory definitely wasn't an advantageous way to go.

When they arrived, Akemi, like a good host, brought them to the living room and went to the kitchen to bring a few drinks, politely apologizing for the lack of snacks.  
Once everyone seemed more or less confortable, Miki didn't hesitate to break the ice.

"So, uh... Gonna tell us what the hell kinda shenanigan that was?"

Kaname gave her friend a disapproving stare for the lack of politeness, but no one truly seemed to mind.

Tomoe was about to answer, but was cut off by the sound of the doorbell. Akemi, looking slightly puzzled - which meant she clearly hadn't been expecting anyone - excused herself from the table to get the door. Everyone decided to let her finish whatever business she had with whoever was there before continuing, though Miki seemed to be a little annoyed with the interruption. The silence didn't last for long though.

"_HOMU-CHAAAAAAAAAN!_"

"M-Mao...?"

"_I MISSED YOU SO MUCH!_"

"...It hasn't been a full week since I left, Mao. What are you doing here?"

"Eh? I'm visiting my bestie, of course!"

An audible sigh was heard before Akemi came back with a much shorter girl in tow.

"Everyone, this is Mao Suzuki...a good friend of mine. Mao, these are Sayaka Miki, Madoka Kaname, Mami Tomoe and Rukia Kuchiki.", she said, gesturing to each teen respectively.

The small girl beamed. "It's really nice to meet you! Homu-chan's friends are my friends too! And no need to be keeping secrets! I'm one of you!", she exclaimed, showing her ring to everyone.

Rukia, Miki and Kaname just stared blankly, while Akemi's eyes widened to the size of golf balls for an instant before she quickly recovered, and Tomoe seemed pleasantly surprised. Apparently, whatever this ring was, it meant something important.  
Not that that would be surprising; it seemed to be Akemi's source of her abilities from what she'd seen earlier.  
The girl - err, Suzuki - took notice of the fact that Rukia seemed to have acquired new information, and to her horror, said:

"So, Ms. Shinigami... What do you really want anyway? Someone ranked lieutenant wouldn't come and stay in a city practically devoid of hollows without a good reason..."

Akemi's eyes narrowed at Rukia once she heard 'Shinigami' - which wasn't appalling, in hindsight, since that literally meant 'Soul Reaper'. Everyone stared at her expectantly, wanting an answer despite not quite knowing what Suzuki was talking about.  
Damn it. Rukia hadn't gotten enough information to know what would be the correct answer to avoid getting on their bad side. She knew she wouldn't be able to write it off as something minor either; the teen was obviously well-informed about the Soul Society. Running away wasn't an option; not only would she be forced to return to continue her mission, but with the way Akemi could teleport, there was a good chance she'd get caught even if she tried.

As if trying to make her situation worse, Suzuki innocently prompted:  
"...You're not here to kill us, are you?"

The girl's stance had only slightly changed, as though getting comfortable. But Rukia, being a soldier, wasn't fooled. She'd shifted in a position that'd make it much easier to attack at a moment's notice.

Akemi's gaze turned into a cold glare, and Tomoe suddenly became serious. Miki and Kaname both unintentionally leaned back, faces pale.

"...No. I don't mean any harm. I am simply here to investigate those with abilities unknown to the Gotei 13."

Suzuki gave her a cautious, calculating stare... And put on a goofy smile again.

"Okaaaay!"

Rukia blinked. She'd gone from goofy to threatening and back at the drop of a hat.

Tomoe, Miki and Kaname visibly relaxed, though Akemi didn't completely let her guard down. Tomoe cleared her throat.

"Well, we'd better get comfortable; it seems this will take a while."


	11. Chapter 11

"...You know, we'll have to get back home at some point, Karin..."

Karin ignored Yuzu in favor of scoring another goal. Despite how glad she felt about having a plan a few hours prior, by the time school had finished, the gravity of their ordeal settled in. The black-haired teen was stressed about the inevitable meeting with their father and brother.  
Because of that, she invented every excuse possible to avoid going back to the house: going to visit a friend for help for their incredibly easy homework, going to the mall for new sports equipment she didn't need, going to a store near their house because she 'forgot' unnecessary groceries, making a detour to the soccer field to practice (even though they didn't have a match that day or anything major coming up)... you name it, she did it.

Sure, they'd implied that telling their family wouldn't be a problem - hell, it was much better than just leaving them behind as her mentor was tempted to do, but that didn't make it any easier to face it.  
Like, really, there was no way they could enter the house and go 'Oh, by the way, we fucked up and now our souls are the most breakable glass gems you've ever seen! And we get a special kind of hollowfication! Plus, we're screwed 'cuz we don't even get to have an afterlife!'.

Karin saw Yuzu give her a deadpan look and immediately knew her sister had read her thoughts. Sometimes she wondered if her sister had any sense of privacy whatsoever.

Finally, she heaved a sigh. She picked up her ball, and the twins made their way towards their neighborhood.

"Fine... You sure we shouldn't reconsider though...?"

Yuzu turned to her, brows furrowed.  
"What's there to reconsider? You know as well as I do that Ichigo and Daddy wouldn't do anything to us. It's as Mao-san said: we need as many allies as possible... Just in case."

"..."

"Chin up, Karin! Have more faith; Soul Society did change since Ichi-nii stormed into Soul Society to save Rukia-san.. Maybe they'll be more tolerant now than they've been with the Quincy. It's been a thousand years; they can't really have the same points of views as back then, right?"

Karin shook her head, a slight grin gracing her face despite how nervous she actually was. "Whatever..." she turned to face Yuzu. "...If anything happens, I'll protect you with my life... It's why I became a Puella Magi after all"

Yuzu giggled and pinched Karin's cheek affectionately as her sister gave her an annoyed glare (though both of them knew that wasn't sincere). It was then that the ravenette noticed she was paler than usual, and had a slight tremble to her hands. Yuzu was just as nervous as Karin.  
The difference?  
Karin wanted to avoid it for as long as she could; Yuzu faced it head-on.

It was strange, really. When one would see the twins, one would think Karin was always stronger, braver, and generally the more courageous twin. It was quite the opposite, really. Whenever things would truly get serious, Yuzu was always the one leading the way while Karin would try to make sure the brunette wouldn't get hurt.

Personalities and outward appearances could be quite deceiving.

...

The twins arrived home when the sun was starting to set. The second they opened the front door, as usual, their father launched himself out of literally nowhere, arms wide for a hug.  
Karin, being much more worried and therefore impulsive and with a quicker reaction time than usual, had more than enough time to put down her bag, push Yuzu to a safe distance and deliver a devastating roundhouse kick, sending the man straight into the wall, rather than just punch him at the very last second like she normally would.

Isshin coughed, holding his side. That was much, _much_ harder and faster than what he'd been expecting from Karin. Heck, he was pretty sure he heard a rib or two crack on impact, so he wouldn't be surprised if there were a dent in the wall. Neither twin was too worried; he was a Shinigami, he'd had much worse before - but Yuzu wasn't too happy about it. She used some magic and opened a telepathic link between them.

_"Karin, was that really necessary?!"_

_"Sorry... I acted on instinct. Wasn't paying attention." _

Sighing, Yuzu closed the link, dropped her schoolbag and hurried towards her father - who was already back up and acting as though unharmed - while Karin went towards their shared bedroom to put away her and Yuzu's bags. At least they wouldn't have a hard time convincing their father that they had magic - he'd just experienced a slightly magic-boosted blow; he'd have to be a blockhead to think that a hit bad enough to actually hurt _him_, a _Shinigami_, was normal coming from a regular girl her size, spiritually aware or not.

The ravenette closed the door and sat on her bed. She distantly heard Ichigo come out of his room and ask Yuzu where they'd been since they came home rather late.  
She really didn't want to tell him. He'd fly into a rage and would probably kill as many Incubators as he could before eventually realizing it was useless and wallow in self-hatred for 'failing to protect his sisters', as he'd probably call it. Her father would have more self control, but that wouldn't stop him from blaming himself either.

But that wasn't the worst part of what was about to happen.

The worst was that they definitely wouldn't let them fight on their own, meaning the Incubators would see them with the Shinigami. She remembered all too well how many times Mao had told her not to let the Incubators know of their blood relation with Shinigami, as it would not end well. She'd never given an explanation as to why besides mentioning the Quincy war, but both twins knew there was more.  
Yuzu would have just read her mind but...she had a tendency of staying out of that girl's head for simple reasons: despite how cheerful she'd seem on the outside, the teen was the very epitome of negativity in her thoughts. She also had gone through plenty of traumatic experiences; Yuzu had only seen one when scanning her memory out of curiosity, but she got nightmares about someone slowly getting half their head cut off for weeks after that episode, and apparently the brunette could sometimes still practically hear the poor victim's torturous screams. Neither dared to ask what could have possibly led to such a horror, but it made Karin wonder how the small girl never despaired.

She was shaken out of her thoughts when Yuzu abruptly opened the door to their room.

"Karin! Come set the table please! Dinner's almost ready."

"Coming!"

Karin was about to get up when she heard an unwanted voice in her head.

_'So you are indeed related to them. That's a shame...' _

Oh, she was _not _in the mood for this.  
The teen summoned a chakram and threw it towards the Incubator, not even bothering to look and see if it actually hit the mark, and left to join her family. She was going to let them know what that bastard did to them. _Screw _the consequences, it was about time they knew anyway - she was sick and tired of lying about her whereabouts whenever she seemingly 'disappeared'.


	12. Chapter 12

The air at the dining table was thick with tension. Isshin and Ichigo could both tell something was wrong the second the twins sat at the table, and once Ichigo ran out of patience (which wasn't much to start with), he bluntly asked what was going on.  
Yuzu had a nervous grin while Karin just looked bored. Their brother and father stared at them, clearly expecting an answer.  
Yuzu scratched at the back of her head, and decided that they couldn't keep up the staring contest forever.

"Well... You see, it's kinda hard to explain -"

Karin, who got annoyed with the slow pace at which Yuzu was going, cut in:

"Short version is: surprise, we have powers!"

Ichigo and Isshin just looked at them before Isshin steadily asked:

"How? You have no reiatsu; we haven't been able to sense you at all for about three months now."

Yuzu and Karin glanced at each other, silently deciding that Yuzu would start; she became a Puella Magi first after all.

"Okay, well uh...it's a long story..."

{~$~}

_About three months prior..._

Yuzu skipped enthusiastically towards school while her sister trailed behind her, in her usual bad mood of the morning

"Yuzu slow down already! How can you like school so much anyway?!"

"Come on! We're almost there!"

"You're not friggin' human..."

The brunette eventually slowed down for her grumpy sister, before grabbing her arm and almost dragging Karin along with her until the ravennette begrudgingly started to jog, grumbling in her breath.

"Today's the day we'll get our math tests back! I'm sure I'll have a good mark!"

"Good for you, model student. Can we go back to walking like any sane person now?"

"Nope!"

More and more people around their age walked the same direction as them, all going towards Karakura Middle School - the place Karin would call hell on earth.  
Yuzu waved and smiled at everyone she passed, while Karin gave them all a dark scowl. They knew they'd get to their destination before long. However, something caught the brown-haired teen's eye, and she stopped - nearly getting trampled by her twin in the process.

"The hell Yuzu?!"

Yuzu gestured towards a blond boy who clearly had the same uniform as them, but was walking in the opposite direction.

"...Look... That's Kuzuryuu-kun, isn't it? Where do you think he's going? "

Karin barely glanced at their classmate before blankly saying:  
"Meh. Probably skipping. I don't blame him...*yaaaaawn*... We gonna go to class or not?"

Yuzu pouted, and started going after him, calling him and receiving strange looks from others as she went. Karin, annoyed, yelled at her to come back.

"Yuzu, really?! Just 'cuz your the class president doesn't mean you have to care! Yuzu?! Hey!"

The three students went passed different streets, shops, and even crossed two highways. The brunette became well aware that she was definitely late for school now, as first period started about ten minutes ago, as well as the fact that they were heading towards the edge of Karakura and towards Tokyo. Her sister was becoming more and more exasperated behind her, having given up on trying to call her and simply resigned herself to following the other teen. She hadn't wanted to go to school anyway.

The boy eventually led them into a deserted and quiet alley. Something felt off. Not a single living creature was to be found.  
They were close to a literal dumpster but it seemed that even the rats and flies stayed away from the area. It was so silent she could hear a pin drop.  
Yuzu started to feel shivers up her spine, and her hairs stood on her neck, but she pushed forward. She was probably just feeling paranoid. Kuzuryuu's steps were unsteady...he was almost walking like a zombie.  
Karin's steps, now coming from a few meters behind her, suddenly stopped. Worried, the brunette ran out of patience with the boy and grabbed him by the back of his uniform. She forced him to turn around and was about to give him an earful about skipping classes, but stopped in her tracks the second she saw the look in his eyes.

Empty hazel orbs stared lifeless, not even focusing on her, before he turned back around. He had a strange tattoo on his neck that Yuzu swore was oozing something evil.

"W-wha...?!"

She turned to Karin, about to tell her to call the police, when she saw her sister with the same tattoo on her neck, gray eyes now empty, staring right through her.

Suddenly starting to panic; confused, scared and feeling cornered, Yuzu tried to forcibly bring them back out of the alley, where someone would hopefully be able to help her. She promptly received a punch in the gut from Kuzuryuu, and he and her sister dragged her with them, demented smiles on their faces, saying they'd all go to a better place, that she'd be overjoyed there.  
It didn't matter how much the teen struggled; the two easily overpowered her.

It was at that moment that the world changed before her eyes.

The floor became silver grass, the walls fell away into nothing, the sky became yellow with fishes that had dog heads swimming in the air, and giant ants with scorpion tails and old TV antennas appeared all around them, getting out of the way as they went towards their unknown destination, and brandishing their tails menacingly from behind the three teens.  
Yuzu's panic got worse, she was sweating bullets and screaming hysterically for help that would never come, and she started to feel lightheaded.  
She eventually calmed down just enough to realize she was on her own. Taking a quick breath, she gave Kuzuryuu a sharp kick in the groin with all the strength she could muster, before bashing Karin with her elbow in the face, knocking her out. Yuzu spread what little reiatsu she had to try to sense her family, Ichigo's friends or those in Urahara's shop.

Nothing.

Not a single soul was anywhere to be found.

Just great. Joy to the world. What now?

The brunette was tempted to try to go against the flow of the ant-monsters; wherever they were taking her wouldn't be good news, she could feel it. Unfortunately, the second she so much as approached one of them, she nearly got stabbed through the throat with one of the giant scorpion stingers, receiving a gash on the side of her neck instead. Yuzu was surprised she'd managed to dodge at all, but knew that she was now truly in danger of dying by bleeding to death. The only reason she could bear the pain at all was because of the adrenaline (mostly from fear) coursing through her veins.

Gritting her teeth, Yuzu balled her fists and tried to concentrate some of reiatsu into them the way she'd seen Karin do it with her soccer ball. She wasn't anywhere near as strong as her siblings - they were always able to clearly see the hollow they were attacking, unlike her - let alone when she was injured, but that wouldn't stop her from trying. She could wonder how she saw everything so well later; right now, she wasn't going to look the gift horse in the mouth.  
The girl rushed forward once more, and punched the same monster that just injured her, being mindful of the tail this time, then knee-kicked it, disconnecting its head from its body, causing the creature to disintegrate. She ducked to avoid an attack on her left, and from then on, it was all a blur.  
Yuzu had no idea how much time passed. It could have only been fighting and dodging left and right for minutes and it'd feel like it'd been hours.  
She dragged Karin and Kuzuryuu along every time she'd manage to advance a little, but soon, exhaustion started creeping in.

The brunette barely saw mouvement out the corner of her eye before feeling a dull pain in her shoulder. Ignoring it, she went to hit the giant ant with her elbow when she realized the thing had completely removed her arm.  
Her vision went blurry, and she instantly cursed her weakness. At the end of the day, she was still just a human; what little reiatsu she had wouldn't have even been enough to qualify her as an unseated officer had she have lived in Soul Society.  
The bloodloss was already affecting her. It was a miracle Yuzu was even conscious, let alone standing (albeit struggling to stay upright).

But did the situation get any better?  
Nope, that'd be too good to be true.

The ground below her abruptly started shaking, throwing the poor girl off balance, completely ruining whatever sense of orientation she had left.  
Through the one eye she had left (a gash she'd received earlier over the right side of her face completely blinded her right eye... If it was even there anymore), she saw a scene that would forever haunt her nightmares.

A large, bulbous head with what had to be thousands of grotesque needle-like teeth in the mouth located in the middle of its face and hundreds of deformed, multicolored, lifeless eyes scattered all over it came out of a hole the earthquake had caused. It had incredibly bony humanoid arms that were skinless, and the rest of its body was clearly rotten and decomposing - to the point that it was impossible to even identify it.  
In it's left... err, hand, was Kuzuryuu's limp body. At least, what was left of it. Blood had splattered all over the place as the house-sized monster feasted on his torso, having already eaten off his head and limbs.

She was done for. Once that creature was done with the poor boy, she knew it was her or her sister next.

_'Your life doesn't have to end this way, you know...'_

Yuzu had trouble tearing her gaze off of the horror that was happening right above her to look at the small bunny-cat like creature that she knew had just spoken.

"W-what...how...?"

_'Make a contract with me, and become a Puella Magi!'_

Yuzu already knew her answer. She didn't know what a Puella Magi was, but if whatever that meant would get her and her sister out of there, she could find out later.

_'So? What wish will make your soul gem shine?'_

She wanted to be stronger. She couldn't be so vulnerable anymore. But what had really gotten her into every life-threatening situation hadn't been her lack of strength. It had been her lack of knowledge.  
She wouldn't walk straight towards a hollow happily waiting with it's jaws open if she knew it was there.  
She wouldn't have been kidnapped and brought to hell as easily if she knew what was happening.

She wouldn't be in this nightmare if she'd have been aware.

She was clueless. And that would cost her and perhaps her loved ones their lives.

"... I don't want to be so oblivious anymore."

...

...

...

Yuzu leaned on her staff - her newfound weapon - with her remaining arm, more exhausted than ever. Scratches, gashes, bruises and other injuries covered her body, but she knew those wouldn't be enough to kill her.  
Being a rookie, Yuzu had been lucky to escape with her life. But she saved her sister and avenged her classmate, and that was all that mattered.

Her injuries slowly healed thanks to her magic, and within half an hour, the now Puella Magi had regenerated her arm.  
She undid her transformation, and looked at her new soul gem. It shined a bright orange, more beautiful than any gem she'd seen. The teen supposed that that was only natural. It was her soul, her body now just a puppet.

"I didn't think you'd make it. Beginner's luck, I guess."

Yuzu looked at the end of the alley at another girl. She could clearly sense her magic, but no ill will was emanating from her, and she wasn't hearing any particularly threatening thoughts upon inspection, so she relaxed.

"I'll let you off the hook for being in my territory since you're a newbie. Want a snack? I'm sure you're tired, and you can't walk around in that or someone will think you committed a murder!", the stranger exclaimed all too cheerfully with a giggle as she came closer.  
She extended her hand to Yuzu.

"My name is Mao Suzuki, Puella Magi of both Tokyo and Karakura."

Yuzu plastered a shaky smile on her face, accepting the handshake.

"Yuzu Kurosaki."

{~$~}


	13. Chapter 13

{~$~}

Yuzu had a hard time adapting to her new double-life. Kuzuryuu had been declared missing two days after she'd witnessed his death, and it felt so wrong to pretend she didn't know anything.  
The other Puella Magi - Mao Suzuki - acted sympathetic and helped her in witch hunts and training. The brunette had told Karin what happened because she felt that her sister deserved to know why she was sneaking out of the house at unearthly hours, so the ravenette would cover up for her whenever she was absent.

"Concentrate a little more, rookie!"

Yuzu was brought back to reality by receiving a scratch on the side of her face, courtesy of her new mentor's blades. Not deep enough to truly hurt her, but it made her well aware that the other girl was going easy on her. She'd have cleaved her head off if it were a real fight.

"Let's take a break. You're really out of it today."

Mao transformed back into civilian clothing and went to sit down on a stone nearby. They'd been sparring in the ruins of a demolished building for a while now, and Yuzu had yet to land a single hit on the other girl. It was slightly frustrating, but she reasoned with herself that the other girl had years of experience while she'd only contracted three days before. The sheer difference in skill was to be expected.

"Why don't you use your mental abilities in battle?"

Yuzu looked at her, confused.

"What could I possibly do with that? It won't harm my opponent in any way..."

The maroon-haired girl sighed, as though she were talking to an idiot. Slightly ticked off, Yuzu scanned her thoughts.

_'This one isn't very bright, is she? Instead of using her mental abilities to predict the opponent's next move, she's focusing too much on her offensive power... Which honestly is rather lacking compared to most. I can practically see her death in action for this..._  
_God, this is Seiko-chan all over again... No, I can't afford to dwell on that... Ah, the sky sure looks nice today. I wonder how long this weather will keep up!'_

Seiko...? Who could that be? Yuzu didn't get to ponder that for much time at all before she heard:

_'Listening, are you? That isn't the best idea unless you're prepared to see even the darkest parts of an individual, rookie.'_

"Eh? Err, sorry...", Yuzu apologized, bowing slightly.

"It's fine. That doesn't bother me. Just try not to catch me when I'm thinking negatively ; it can affect your mental state, and we can't have that now can we?"

"How would it affect me in any way? These aren't my thoughts or memories"

"... How, you ask...?"

The other Puella Magi's usual gentle smile suddenly turned into a slight smirk, and she made her way towards Yuzu.

"You said you need consent to read another person's memory, right? Go ahead. Take a look at my memories; I'm sure you'll understand better if you actually have the experience."

Yuzu didn't like the look she was getting, but went ahead. She wanted to know more about the other teen anyway; now was the best opportunity.

#!#

_Yuzu found herself at what seemed to be a living room, watching a cartoon she didn't recognize. She looked down at her hands, and found smaller, darker ones. Reaching up and grabbing some hair she had in a twintail, she saw maroon wavy locks instead of the straight light brown she was used to._  
_There wasn't much in the area, but from what little furniture there was and the rather dirty neighborhood she could see out the window, Yuzu could tell that the family was rather modest._

_She suddenly heard the front door slam open, but didn't have time to react before a woman - judging by her maroon wavy hair, she was probably her mother - grabbed her and sprinted to the nearest hiding spot: the guest room. There was a lot of shouting from nearby, and the teen - or rather, younger Mao - looked through the door's keyhole, wanting to know what was happening. A man - judging by the skin tone that matched Mao's and his burgundy colored eyes, he must have been her father - had his hands up, seemingly trying to convince the armed men in front of hm of something. Because the memory wasn't very clear, however, she couldn't hear what they were saying; she just knew he was being threatened_.

_They didn't pay any mind to what the poor man was saying, shooting him in the head without hesitation._  
_A tall, dark brown haired woman with piercing hazel eyes entered, discussing something with the two. From what little the memory provided, it was likely she disapproved of the mess and the amount of time they took._  
_What she said next, however, was crystal clear:_

_"Kill the woman and get the daughters. He wouldn't pay his debts with money, so he'll pay with his family."_

_What was she, some kind of mafia leader or something?... Probably._

_Yuzu was yanked into another memory; a few days later. This time, she found herself tied to a pole. Someone was beside her, also bound to the same pole, but she couldn't make out who it was through the darkness._

_Large doors slammed open, and bright blue electric lights momentarily fried her retinas._  
_The same woman as before came in, followed by a man in a white coat. A scientist, maybe...?_  
_She looked up towards the person beside her, and saw what was presumably her sister; she had wavy black hair that cascaded down her back, and burgundy colored eyes... She seemed to be about seventeen to nineteen years old, give or take. She looked depressed but resigned._

_Nothing was clear after that._

_All Yuzu saw and heard were deafening screams of agony, and the color red, before it cleared up momentarily, showing part of her sister's head, from the top lip and up, severed from her body, thrown onto the ground like a piece of trash._

_Everything blurred again, and the last thing she saw were the demented looks on the man and woman's faces... And an Incubator, right in her lap._

...

...

...

#!#

Yuzu collapsed, her vision blurred with tears. Not that she was really seeing anyway - the bloody images of half the victim's head hitting the ground, the terrifying screams of agony, the eyes that showed pure evil that were embedded in her mind... It was just too overwhelming.

The weight lifted somewhat when Mao pressed a grief seed against the brunette's now murky soul gem and hugged her, telling her it was alright, it was over, but Yuzu was just about sure she wouldn't be forgetting that anytime soon.

It took a while for Yuzu to regain her composure. She stared at the cheerful maroon-haired girl for a moment.

"Y-you... She... That was...?"

The girl unwrapped a lollipop and casually put it in her mouth.

_**"**_Mhmm. Real as can be. I found out later that it turned out to be loan sharks associated with corrupt police and scientists that supposedly wanted to conduct illegal research on humans!...kinda looked like they were just sadists though."

"... Are they... still...?"

"Nope. I killed them. I made a contract the instant those two turned towards me. I wished to be able to live as long as I could. About five years old, I think."

The brunette looked away, guilty.  
"I...didn't want to make you relive that...I...um, sorry..."

The maroon-haired Puella Magi looked at her incredulously before snorting. "Why are you apologizing? I've been over that for a while now - _you_ are the one who will be unable to sleep tonight."

Looking back up at her, the brunette croaked: "How... did you survive for so long...?... You seem...used to this..."

"Huh? Uhhh... I dunno! My wish helped me with slowing down the corruption of my soul gem and all... But honestly?". She shrugged, before giving Yuzu a slightly concerned expression. She didn't say anything, but the teen heard her thoughts loud and clear.

_'Damn... I hope she'll be able to pull through. This is only the tip of the iceberg...'_

She was right. The next few nights, Yuzu was plagued with both Kuzuryuu's death and the girl's tortured wails. She'd wake up in a cold sweat, trembling, and go to her older brother's room, unable to bear sleeping alone but not wanting to wake up Karin, who was already worried about her with all the Puella Magi crap.  
She was unable to concentrate on classes and her marks dropped.  
She'd freeze up in battle and had to be saved by Mao almost every time.  
She'd get anxious whenever her soul gem dimmed even just a little ; she really couldn't afford to become a witch.  
But curiosity still plagued her at the best of times, and she poked into the thoughts of those around her. The people she'd seen on TV. Her classmates. Adults she knew. Complete strangers. And she'd had her fair share of unpleasant surprises, from inconsiderate and degrading thoughts from a person she thought was nice, to the memories of old people who were still alive after the second world war, to politicians who only craved power and even to some teachers who had unsightly thoughts about their students.

She knew how much people suffered; she'd heard their thoughts as though they were her own.

She knew of those who wore a mask of kindness, hiding their despicable nature.

She knew she was becoming a burden for the veteran with the number of grief seeds she needed to avoid falling into despair.

She knew about almost all the risks of everyday things and tasks, along with her chances of survival at this rate.

She wanted to think that her world had been shattered, but that'd be a lie. It never existed in the first place.

Almost everyone only did things for their own gain. People often didn't genuinely care about each other despite their words of kindness. She lived in a society filled with hypocrisy.

Were _these_ the citizens she'd been protecting from witches those past few days since she became a Puella Magi?

Yuzu had gotten what she had wanted. Knowledge.

But now... She was wondering if she'd have been better off peacefully oblivious, surrounded by comforting lies.

0.0

Karin wasn't stupid. Something was wrong with Yuzu, and she was sure it had something to do with her status as a Puella Magi.  
Her sister had large bags under her eyes from lack of sleep, didn't seem to see everything as optimistically as she used to, would cry out of nowhere, would skip school (which, for her, was unheard of), and would flinch at the slightest of sounds. She didn't trust the girls who were supposed to be her close friends, her teachers, other teens around her age... or almost anyone, really. She had stopped eating entirely despite the family's stubborn protests against that, instead giving all her food to anyone she found on the streets, and Karin ended up taking her place doing household duties, as the twin would either holed up in her room or out for her job as a Puella Magi.

The ravenette was done waiting for her to tell her what was wrong. If she couldn't get it out of Yuzu, she'd find out some other way.

About a week and a half after Yuzu contracted, she sought out the incubator, and demanded an explanation. It didn't hesitate to tell her what happened, before letting Karin know that despite Mao's relentless efforts getting more grief seeds than usual, sometimes trespassing other girls' territories and being forced into a fight after, Yuzu wasn't going to make it.  
Like the sly bastard it was, it then asked her if she'd make a contract to prevent her sister's untimely death.  
Karin grimaced, knowing she'd be going against Yuzu's wishes by contracting, but didn't feel as though she had much of a choice.

"I...I wish-"

She never completed her sentence, as the incubator was blasted to smitherens. Wide-eyed, the ravenette turned to see her sister, who was visibly shaking, tears spilling freely down her face.  
The look in her eyes was wild and unsettling, but wasn't what made Karin almost faint in terror.

Yuzu's soul gem was almost completely black.

"K-karin..."

"Yuzu! Don't you have a grief seed?! You're soul gem-"

"You said you wouldn't do it..."

"I _have to_-"

Yuzu flash-stepped right in front of her and Karin recoiled, seeing Yuzu's miserable but slightly crazed expression.

"It's okay if you can't keep a promise Karin... I'll just have to keep you away from him..."

Whatever sadness was left completely disappeared, becoming pure insanity as the brunette raised her staff.

"...don't worry...if I just send you to Soul Society, they won't have access to you - !"

Mao appeared in a flash-step and used a blade to deflect a blow the brunette nearly gave her sister, and delivered a rough knee-kick to the face, sending her flying.  
Before she even landed, the teen flash-stepped behind her and promptly knocked her out.

Karin wanted to yell at her in outrage, but stopped short when she saw the girl's condition.  
Blood ran down her forehead, and the right side of her torso was completely damaged. One of her hands didn't seem to be working properly, and she was panting heavily.

"What the hell happened to you?!"

"Don't... *cough*...worry about me... I'll be fine once I heal."

She limped to Yuzu and, with great difficulty, crouched down to press a grief seed against her soul gem. Karin approached her and took the grief seed, saying she'd do it since it'd take some time, and insisted that the veteran Puella Magi rest.  
While the corruption was sucked into the grief seed, the ravenette asked once more how the other girl got herself in such conditions, to which the other teen replied with wry smile that she tried to steal some grief seeds from a Puella Magi, but was caught. Unfortunately, she turned out to have allies, and the maroon-haired girl found herself fighting four of them. She managed to run away with her prize after killing one and severely injuring two; the last one didn't chase her, too preoccupied with her fallen comrades.

"I'm not gonna asked how you managed to beat _four_ girls... Do you need any grief seeds though?"

Mao blinked, slightly confused. "Why do you care? I didn't do anything for you."

Karin rolled her eyes. For someone Yuzu had called smart, she seemed to be kinda slow.  
"Dumbass. You took care of my sis. Now do you need any?"

"Nah, I'm good.", she answered, showing her her soul gem. It wasn't at it's brightest, but it wasn't anywhere near dark enough for it to become a concern.

Karin furrowed her brows, thinking it was strange for her to have supposedly used a lot of magic yet be perfectly fine, but shrugged it off. How would she know? She wasn't a Puella Magi. Besides, she could have purified it on her way back.  
Something still bugged her, though.

"Hey... Any idea why she was acting like that? The Yuzu I know wouldn't be so ready to kill me..."

"Her soul gem was pretty dark. It's hard to stay sane once the corruption of your soul gem passes a certain point. She was just trying to keep you safe from the Incubators, remember? Well, without her sanity, she was perfectly fine with using morally questionable means to do so."

"...oh."

The maroon-haired girl turned towards her.  
"So...are you really going to become a Puella Magi? I'd advise against it, but whether you want to sell your soul or not isn't my choice."

"...Yeah, I will." Karin looked down at her sister, now sleeping peacefully.  
"I don't want to have to let her handle this alone... And I don't want to have to continue on without her once she succumbs..."

"Hmm? What about the rest of your family?"

"Ichi-nii and Goat-face have each other. I'm sure they'll get over it eventually."

"... Are you sure? There's no going back, and Yuzu-chan won't be happy about this at all..."

"Of course. I'll fight by her side, whether she likes it or not."

"...You better not regret this. I warned you."

The teen sighed, and turned towards the Incubator that had come around shortly after Yuzu had been knocked out.

_'Well then. What wish will make your soul gem shine?'_

The ravenette steeled herself. Here was the point of no return.

"... Make me strong enough to fight for those who can't. "

{~$~}


	14. Chapter 14

Silence reigned in the room. Yuzu and Karin watched Ichigo and Isshin expectantly, waiting for their reaction. Both their reiastus gave off waves of guilt and sadness, but they both kept their faces blank.  
Isshin suddenly started crying crocodile tears and ran straight to their poster.

"MASAAAKIIIIIIIII! I'VE FAILED TO PROTECT THEM AGAAAAAIIIINN! FIRST OUR SON AND NOW OUR TWO BEAUTIFUL DAUGHTERS!"

Yuzu smiled sympathetically at her father. Being able to hear his thoughts, she knew as well as he did that the man was practically dying inside; he was just trying to lighten the mood. Clearly, it didn't have that effect on Ichigo, however; he bashed him before wordlessly going upstairs and into his room. The sadness in his reiatsu had morphed into pure anger and bloodlust - obviously towards the Incubators - and he was clearly trying to contain himself, knowing it wouldn't be good to lash out at that precise moment.  
It was safe to say he'd probably rant to at least one of his friends, but that wasn't a bad thing ; in fact, that'd work in their favor by automatically guaranteeing allies.

0.0

"RISE AND SHIIINE LAZYBUTTS! IT'S SUCH A BEAUTIFUL DAY! "

No one moved. Mao supposed that that was normal; everyone was exhausted from the day before (that had turned into a slumber party once all the serious talk had been taken care of and Madoka and Sayaka had called their parents).

Since there weren't enough beds for all of them (or space in Homura's room) they'd each taken a spot on the couches surrounding the small glass table of the living room. She never understood why her friend had so many, but hey! They came in handy... She was still gonna ask why the hell Homura needed a decoration that big swinging from the ceiling.  
It was Saturday, ten in the morning, but none of them were really morning people (with the exception of Mao herself, obviously).

She pouted, before suddenly smirking. This would be hilarious.

0.0

Mami had a rather rude awakening. Instead of being woken up by a call, an alarm, shaken awake - or any other sane way of waking someone up really - she woke up freezing and coughing and sputtering, and to the sound of a camera snapping a picture.  
Someone had just thrown icy water on her and the other girls, she realized, a little annoyed (and shivering).

"Your faces were _priceless_! Ahahahahaha!"

The blonde sat up looked to see Suzuki practically laughing to death, her phone in hand and the now empty bucket beside her. Akemi slowly got up, a dark expression on her face, clearly not amused in the least. Kaname groaned and curled herself more in the blanket, and both Kuchiki and Miki, snarling, immediately charged at the girl, yelling at her to delete the stupid (and embarrassing) photo.  
The maroon-haired girl ran away, mocking the two with her prize, not noticing Akemi approaching her from behind until it was too late and thus receiving a bonk on the head along with a death glare from Akemi. This gave Kuchiki the opportunity to bash the girl with a flying kick to the head, as revenge for waking her up. Miki confiscated the phone and promptly erased the picture... Only to realize it was already on iCloud.  
It was a little silly, watching all this play out, and Mami snorted at their show of immaturity and horseplay. Miki now had a flailing Suzuki in a noogie while Akemi just let her be and came to sit beside Mami, not concerned for her poor friend in the least, while Kuchiki was trying to coax Kaname out of bed (a.k.a trying to steal the blanket for herself by shaking it wildly in the air since hers was the driest as she'd been the farthest, while the pinkette literally hung onto it, crying comically as she sailed in the air).

Rubbing her head where she probably now had a few bruises, Suzuki let them know she had already made some waffles and set the table while they'd all been snoozing. Miki perked up at this, her anger suddenly gone, and turned to run to where she could smell the delicious breakfast.  
She'd completely forgotten that she was still soaking wet, however, and slipped on the water all around, face-planting.

Akemi went ahead and offered some dry clothes for all of them.

The blonde smiled. It was nice to wake up with her newfound friends, even if made for a slightly hectic morning.

...

At about three in the afternoon, most of the girls decided to leave, not wanting to overstay their welcome. Mami practically skipped home, overjoyed. It had been too long since she'd been this happy.  
Now she had not one, but five friends! Sure, she didn't know all of them that well, but that would easily be fixed with time. Plus, there really was an afterlife! Even though Soul Society was definitely far from perfect from what Suzuki and Kuchiki told her, she was sure her parents were okay.

Akemi had warned Kaname and Miki against making a contract because it was too dangerous and that she and Mami - and sometimes Suzuki and Kuchiki, if they were around - could handle the witches just fine. The blonde wasn't too happy about that, but what the ravenette had said was true, so she kept her mouth shut. No need to ruin the mood.

She merrily entered her apartment, locking the door behind her. She immediately greeted Kyubey, who was seated on her glass coffee table.

_'I see you are allied with Homura Akemi now.'_

"Yes! She's a really good friend, Kyubey...albeit a little quiet, but very polite!"

_'She is very dangerous ; she has shown herself to be very aggressive towards me. If she is friendlier to you, she may be planning something... '_

"No... I'm pretty sure that isn't the case. And I would appreciate it if you would stop badmouthing her.", she concluded, clearly ending any debate on the subject.  
She'd failed Sakura, but it wouldn't happen again. She'd be there for her new friends, whether Kyubey liked it or not. She liked him, but sometimes the cat-like creature went too far.

Shaking her head, the teen then took off her shoes, went to turn on the tea kettle and started to look for a teabag in her usual supply.

...

She had none left...?

Mami checked one more time, even took out the box she kept them in. Indeed, there wasn't a single one left. How did she fail to notice?  
Sighing, she turned off the kettle, took her phone, purse and some money, and put her shoes back on. Just before leaving, she gave Kyubey the most recent used-up grief seed she had.

The blonde didn't pay attention to the fact that he kept it and left, rather than eating it like usual.

0.0

Sado Yasutora made his way towards the grocery store. His footsteps were more mechanical than anything, as his mind was occupied.  
The Puella Magi system... Cruel, to say the least. To think Ichigo's sisters got involved...he truly felt sorry for his friend, but because there was no immediate danger, he couldn't just abandon his studies.  
Unlike Ichigo, who decided to stay in Karakura for university, he'd chosen to go to one in Mitakihara. The price ran pretty high, so he only managed to get where he was thanks to a scholarship. The man wasn't sure he'd ever get used to how technologically advanced the city was, though. Seriously, even Tokyo couldn't compare!

Taking a shortcut through a narrow alley to the store, he wondered how well his friend was coping; the only other person of their little friend group who also stayed in Karakura was Orihime. He knew the young man wouldn't want to stress her though...

His thought process was cut short when he didn't recognize where he was. In fact, he was quite sure the area as a whole looked surreal.  
The paint on the walls were peeling off, the air was quite stale...his surroundings looked like he was in an alley of a literal ghost town, somewhere old and abandoned.  
Frowning, he turned around and went back in the direction he was sure he'd come, hoping he just made a wrong turn and not wanting to think of the alternative.

It was useless.

The walls around him only became more narrow, mold appeared everywhere, and the dread he felt only increased with every step.

Crap, he was definitely in a labyrinth.

Sado summoned his fullbring. If this was the way things were going to be, then getting caught off-guard wouldn't be good. It was a bad sign that no familiars had appeared; Ichigo let him know that his sisters informed him that that often meant he'd be facing the witch with all it's familiars at the same time, which would usually force Puella Magi with any sense of self-preservation to flee as they'd otherwise be overwhelmed.

The man set off on a light jog, knowing that what he would face was now inevitable, so he might as well get it over with as soon as possible.

His footsteps echoed painfully loudly in the never ending maze of alleys. He would frequently run into forks and crossroads in the path, and could only choose randomly which way to go. Puella Magi knew instinctively where to go, but apparently that only applied to them. For all Sado knew, he could've gone the wrong way and would therefore probably be trapped there for the rest of his life.  
His sense of time seemed to be warped in the labyrinth; he had no idea how much time had passed. Could've been minutes. Hours. With the endurance he'd needed during the time of the Winter War, it wouldn't even be surprising if he'd been running around for days. He had no connection to the outside world; his phone had no signal, and he didn't sense anyone when he spread his reiatsu.

Because of the lack of immediate danger, he eventually dispelled his fullbring ; carrying it around when he didn't need it was a waste of energy.

Suddenly he heard another set of footsteps, running a little faster than him, from behind.  
He didn't feel any reiatsu at all, so the sound caught him by surprise.

Sado stopped and turned around. No one was in sight, but he could still hear it, coming closer every time. Eventually, a young blonde teen rounded the corner, wearing what definitely looked like western cosplay. She didn't look tired by any means, but was clearly surprised when she saw him, skidding to a stop.

A Puella Magi? Most likely.

"Huh?... Err, we should get going. I know you're probably feeling a bit disoriented, but I can explain on the way. My apologies for being a bit rushed about this, but I can't let more people be caught here."

She sprinted, and he followed.

"I'm Mami Tomoe. What's your name?"

"...Sado Yasutora. You don't need to explain this. I'm aware of what's going on."

"Really? Uh, good. That will make things easier then. Get ready, we're almost there."

The twists and turns of the labyrinth increased drastically, and black fog started accumulating until he could barely see his hands in front of his face. The only thing guiding him was the girl's glowing yellow soul gem, since it was on her head. He wasn't worried; Tomoe seemed to know where she was going.

Gradually, the echoes of their running quieted down; it seemed that wherever they were, it wasn't anywhere near as narrow as before.  
The girl suddenly stopped running; he could only tell because the yellow glow in front of him stopped moving, and he was hard-pressed to practically dig his feet into the ground in order to avoid crashing into her.

"...We're here."

Something warped, and as Tomoe made to make some kind of ribbon barrier around him, he stepped out of it and summoned his fullbring.

"I'll be fine."

Slightly confused but seemingly deciding to save the questions for later, the blonde summoned an array of muskets as a dozen glowing green humanoid silhouettes appeared, clawing their way out of the ground all around them. They screamed endlessly, almost like tortured souls still resided in them.

They were dealt with within seconds. Tomoe shot down the farther ones while Sado, carefully avoiding the crossfire, took out those that remained.

Seconds later, a hissing sound above them was their only warning before a gigantic object the size of an apartment building landed where they were, and if Sado hadn't had the reaction time he had, he wouldn't of been able to pick up the Puella Magi and flash-step out of the way fast enough. He thanked whatever gods there were above for there to have been no obstacles ; he could still barely see with the fog he was starting to seriously hate.  
He looked to wherever the hell that thing had landed, and saw a giant rotting jack o' lantern, complete with an eerie green glow from the inside and a very sharp-toothed smile that really should've broken the pumpkin in two.

It's large eyes flared brightly, and small pores all over shot out acid. The liquid burned into the floor, and an entire crowd of familiars clawed their way out of the holes. With all the light emanating from the jack o' lantern and the thousands of familiars, he could clearly see their features.  
They were hideous.  
Zombie-like monsters scattered like angered bees as far as the eye could see, and they were rapidly approaching; they had chainsaws as arms, and some of them even spat acid.  
It was a wonder how he didn't get injured when he faced some without seeing what he was doing.  
The sky had become completely black as well, making the familiars and the witch the only things that were truly visible.

The situation really didn't look good.

"Ahem..."

He looked down and Tomoe beamed at him, a slight blush present.

"...Thank you, you can put me down now."

Ah, right. She was still in his arms. Oops. Feeling slightly awkward, he did as he was asked and pretended nothing ever happened.

The girl immediately summoned plenty of muskets in a flurry of ribbons.

"Try to kill as many as you can; I'll cover you. We need to make our way to the witch as fast as possible."

He nodded. He'd come to just about the same conclusion; they were going to have to plow through the familiars to get to the witch. The older teen really wished he hadn't flash-stepped so far now.

"El directo!"

The attack plowed through about a dozen, and a rain of bullets ensured that the small path they made didn't just refill with more of the creatures. Unfortunately, this also seemed to have angered the familiars, since they started swinging th chainsaws around more viciously, aiming for vital organs. As promised, Tomoe shot down the grand majority of those that got too close for comfort. Sado handled the few that managed to get past her gunshots.

Things seemed to be going well for the first few minutes, but the witch suddenly turned the tables when they got about a third of a way there.  
The sky became even darker - clouds, probably - and it started to rain.

But of course it wouldn't rain water - that would be just too nice for the occasion.

It rained candycorn bombs. Phenomenal.

This forced Tomoe to summon dozens of guns at a time to shoot and set off any bombs far above them to avoid being bombarded, leaving Sado to fend for himself with the mass of creatures.

So... Constantly releasing reishi-based attacks and still be receiving nasty gashes all over while being blasted by the few candycorns here and there that got past Tomoe's defenses? He usually wouldn't be so sarcastic, but man, his day couldn't get any better! Seriously!  
God knows what kind of excuse he'd have to make up for every scratch and bruise once he turned up at Orihime's since he wouldn't want her to worry too much.  
And to top it off, he was sure the Puella Magi wouldn't be able to keep up her pace for much longer; who would keep up with candycorn falling at the pace of _raindrops_? He was impressed she'd lasted that long; had she have been a Shinigami, she probably would've been able to be in the second squad.

Sado was suddenly ensnared by a few yellow ribbons and yanked upwards.  
It turned out the girl had managed to make a pretty large umbrella/net of sorts with her ribbons, and find a lamppost. The blonde was currently standing on it. She wasn't having trouble with his weight at all (which in hindsight shouldn't have been all too surprising).

"We're not making much progress like this. I'll swing you over there, so I hope you're used to rough landings!"

...that was the only warning he got before he felt himself being launched a few kilometers ahead, straight towards the witch. He landed just a few meters away from it, and immediately charged forward.

"..._La_ _Muerte_!"

It exploded on impact...only for a grotesque excuse of a Frankenstein to take it's place. He flash-stepped away, surprised, before being forced to flash-step all over the place. He'd almost forgotten that the girl was no longer there to stop the bombs from landing.  
It had two forms? So much for defeating it upon landing...

Tomoe landed nearby, having swung herself over there in a similar fashion she'd done for him.  
The giant Frankenstein reject wound up and bashed the ground where the Puella Magi would've been if she hadn't seen it coming. A crater - much larger than what Sado's La Muerte punch would create - formed where it hit. It didn't unnerve Sado, but he wasn't seeing the girl anywhere. Did she abandon him without warning? It did seem to be a strong one, so it wouldn't surprise him.

His question was promptly answered when the ground around the grotesque creature glowed yellow for a fraction of a second before large, red versions of the ribbons he'd seen earlier ensnared it.  
The acid the witch was oozing instantly started melting them away, but she'd been prepared for that.  
He finally saw her, positioned above the monster with two large canons at her side.

"_Tiro Doble!" _

With an ear-splitting _bang_, its arms were destroyed, and acid poured from the wounds in generous amounts. It _screamed_.

"Yasutora-kun! _Finish it off!_"

Huh. The fight seemed to have worn her out. Maybe she lacked stamina?

Ignoring the acid - he'd deal with whatever wounds he received later - he charged in for the second time, and delivered three consecutive La Muerte punches.

Everything wobbled out of existence, returning them to the alley he'd been in on his way to the grocery store.  
Clothes singed and a few noticeable burns here and there, Tomoe picked up the grief seed and purifies her soul gem. No wonder she started showing signs of exhaustion; apparently, that fight had costed her a generous amount of magic since he could clearly see a swirl of black in the yellow rock before she purified it.  
Then again, she _did_ summon what must have added up to a few thousand muskets just to fend off the bombs...

She lay against the wall, panting.  
He decided to ask a couple of questions.

"...You're a veteran, right?"

"Huh? Uh, yes.."

"Are they usually this strong?"

Looking up at him, she shook her head.  
"That... was by far the strongest I've faced since I contracted..."

She got back up, apparently having recovered.

"...In fact, it's almost like that was enhanced; there are strong witches, yes, but that wasn't normal..."

Having nothing to say, Sado didn't inquire any further. A feeling of dread niggled in the back of his mind, but he wasn't quite sure why.

The older teen decided to temporarily ignore it, hoping he wouldn't regret that decision.

0.0

Subject number three was successful. It would now be used as a beta for the completion of the experiment.

The Incubator terminal, having watched the battle and gathered the information needed, left.

Mission accomplished.


	15. Chapter 15

Homura watched Mao, who was clearly rather deep in thought. Rukia had left to give a report to the Soul Society on the information she'd acquired, so the two were alone.  
The ravenette had used the opportunity to let her friend know about her wish, and her current mission. Of course, she stopped time when she did so to prevent any incubators from eavesdropping. The maroon-haired teen had yet to say anything. So she waited; it _was_ a lot to take in despite the fact that she apparently already had a hunch about her being a time-traveler.

"...you said Sayaka-chan usually contracts in a few days, after Mami-chan dies like an idiot, right..?"

Homura blinked at the girl's blatant disrespect for Mami's fate, but decided not to make a comment.  
"Yes. She always contracts to heal Kyosuke Kamijo's hand."

Mao nodded, giving a toothy smile. To anyone who didn't know her well, she'd look friendly, but Homura resisted the urge to lean away.  
This was the smile Mao used to give Homura's former bullies before promptly sending them to the infirmary with bleeding noses and black eyes when they were younger... But this time, it was much more intense.

"Sooooo... What do you think her reaction will be if I were to, say, remove him from the equation...?"

The time-traveler's eyes widened a fraction, already seeing visions of a devastated Sayaka cradling the boy's dead body in her arms.  
"...It never happened, so I can't say for sure... But I doubt it's a good idea..."

"Why? She doesn't need to know who killed him, and the Incubators can't afford to resurrect an individual since that would mean dragging their soul out of the Soul Society. I told you they're against the Shinigami, but that doesn't mean they want to be spotted. Results? If he's gone, he's gone for good!...Is the mess what you're worried about? I'll clean up any blood and just make his body just look like he's sleeping if you want... Or is it any noise he might make? Don't worry, I'll make sure he can't scream or struggle..."

The ravenette just stared as the other teen kept making more suggestions to try to ease her worries, each as horrendous as the last. She knew it wasn't like she never killed anyone herself... But it felt wrong to talk about someone's life like it didn't matter, let alone messing with their corpse among...other things.  
...This was a side of her supposed 'childhood friend' she hadn't thought could exist. As far as she'd known, she wouldn't resort to violence unless the situation forced her into it (or anyone lay a hand on the ravenette herself), yet here she was happily discussing a possible murder. It rubbed her the wrong way.

"Mao...stop it."

"...eh?"

"...just...how long have you been a Puella Magi?"

"Uh... About nine years, give or take?"

"And... Did you ever become allies with anyone...? Anyone to support you at all?"

"Yep! Of course! I met Yumi-chan, Mikan-chan, Ayano-chan, Seiko-chan, Gin-chan, Hana-chan -"

"Where are they? Are they still in Tokyo?"

The maroon-haired girl tilted her head, probably wondering why she was asking so many questions.  
"They've all been dead for a while now Homu-chan. The only Puella Magi I'm allied with at the moment are you, Mami-chan, and two others in Karakura; I met them a couple of months ago."

Homura sighed. That long? And losing everyone she knew to the system? That had to have had some psychological effects. There was no way around it - her morals were definitely skewed. Not that the ravenette herself could talk; she's had an unhealthy obsession for Madoka's survival for a while now. She just didn't really care.  
Because of the girl's morals (or lack thereof), though, she was glad she wasn't against her - it'd be a real pain to have to deal with her, not to mention she wasn't sure she could actually being herself to harm her to begin with.

"Homu-chan, I want you to meet those I'll be working with. They're in Karakura. They could be useful both for Walpurgisnacht and for getting at least a few Shinigami on your side..."

"...I see.. "

Mao came up close, stars in her eyes.  
"Pleeeaaase? Rukia-chan and Mami-chan will be here to protect Madoka-chan, and we even told her about how much harder it becomes for there to be enough grief seeds for everyone each time another Puella Magi contracts. I told her as many ways as I could think of that any potential wish could go wrong. I told her we'd all have to use precious time and magic to train her, and with her nonexistent self-esteem, that should be more than enough to discourage her! If she contracts even with all this preparation, Homu-chan, then I'm sorry to tell you she's the idiot of the century."

Homura definitely wasn't happy with how the other girl had pretty much destroyed whatever self-esteem Madoka had, but she had to admit she made a valid point.  
"...Fine."

Beaming, she immediately went on her phone.  
"Awesome! But first, I'm calling everybody! We're gonna have a girls night out!"

"Mao are you serious? I have a mission and I -"

"Will have an easier time fulfilling it if Madoka-chan's in your sight!"

"Mao -"

"Plus, you'll meet Karin-chan and Yuzu-chan in advance!"

"Mao, _listen to me -_"

" Hello? Hey, Sayaka-chan, Homu-chan really wants to have a girls night out but doesn't have the balls to say it! Huh? Yeah, she'll pay everything... Yep, we'll definitely have another slumber party after... Great! Tell Madoka-chan, I'll call everybody else!"

Homura sighed, resigned. Once Mao was set on doing something, there was no stopping her... When was the last time she just let loose and had fun anyway? Plus, it wasn't like something would happen to Madoka while she could keep an eye on her. Not if she had something to say about it.

0.0

Mami smiled at her phone, happy she'd be spending some more quality time with her new friends. Sure, it was just a few hours since she'd actually left Akemi's house, but, if anything, it just gave her more energy.  
The blonde looked back up and turned off the tea kettle, looking towards her guest. Yasutora seemed to be a rather quiet person, like Akemi. They'd already had a bit of small talk - though, to be honest, she was the one doing the most of the talking. Apparently, he was an eighteen year old student in University. When she asked, he let her know that no, he wasn't a Shinigami; he was a human with more reiatsu than most others: a Fullbringer. He was familiar with quite a few Shinigami though.

To be honest, she probably would have been intimidated by his height and obvious strength if she wasn't capable of just shooting him in the head, but he turned out to be more of the 'gentle giant' type.  
Silence, with him, was more comfortable than awkward.

"...hmm?"

Mami blinked. Crap, she'd been staring. Turning back to preparing the tea, she answered:  
"It's nothing, I was just thinking..."

Just then, a thought occured to her, and she asked:  
"Do you know a Shinigami named Rukia Kuchiki by any chance?"

"Yes. She's a good friend of mine."

Mami's face lit up with joy. "Really? I'm friends with her too! Maybe I could have you meet the others? I'm sure they'd be thrilled to meet you! Oh, I could prepare some flan for the occasion... And Suzuki-san seems to like turkish delight, I'll need to get some of those...it will be fantastic!"

Out the corner of her eye, Mami saw Kyubey on her windowsill.

"Kyubey! Don't just stay there!" she opened her window, missing how Yasutora tensed up upon seeing the creature and hearing it's name. "Yasutora-kun, this is Kyubey, a good friend of mine!"

"...he's the one you made a contract with?"

She beamed, holding the cat-like creature a little tighter.  
"Yes! He saved me! He's been there for me ever since... I couldn't ask for a better friend!"

_'It's nice to see you as well, Mami! Hello Yasutora, it's a pleasure to meet you.'_

The older teen didn't answer, but the blonde suddenly recoiled.  
He was _angry. _She wasn't quite sure how she knew, she could just pick it out of the air. His eyes burrowed into Kyubey's, and if looks could kill, she was pretty sure the poor creature would be burning in the core of the earth.

"A friend...?"

"U-um...Yasutora-kun...? Do you... Know him...?"

_'I do not recall ever coming into contact with him. His anger is irrational, as far as I know.'_

He looked up at Mami, seeming to have temporarily calmed down, the air around them returning to normal.  
"...He didn't tell you about any catches to the contract, did he?"

Her brow twisted in confusion at his intense gaze, wondering why that would be so important. As far as she knew, being a Puella Magi wasn't all that bad...

"...Fighting witches...?"

He shook his head and sighed, getting up.

"I need to leave now; I have several unfinished assignments due rather soon. You have my number. Call me if you ever need help", he said, giving her a serious look before opening the door.

"I'll see you soon."

Bewildered, Mami just watched as he left the apartment.  
She looked down at Kyubey.

"...Did I give a bad first impression?"

He didn't answer.

0.0

At 8:30 pm, Homura's doorbell rang. Mao, who had changed into her favourite oversized fuschia blouse and black leggings, went to open the door. Homura was still getting ready, so she wasn't available.

The Kurosaki twins, along with their older brother, were on the other side. Karin wore a black t-shirt and loose cargo pants while Yuzu had a white sweater and a short brown skirt on. Both wore sneakers.  
The two immediately greeted her, to which she answered accordingly, before she looked towards their sibling. She extended a hand to him for a handshake.

"I already know who you are, but we never actually met, right? I'm Mao Suzuki."

"Ichigo Kurosaki. I know it's a bit late for this but... Thanks for protecting them", he said a bit awkwardly.

"Anytime, carrot top!"

The older teen blinked while his sisters chuckled. Of course she'd find a nickname for him on the spot. Most people did.  
Turning to leave, he told the twins to go straight to Chad's once they were done; the rest was drowned out by a thought Yuzu unconsciously sent to Mao.

_"I know he's worried, but I'd appreciate it if we didn't have a bodyguard to go everywhere now. This is becoming a little annoying..."_

Once he wasn't in sight, Mao promptly let the brunette know she let her thoughts slip again, to which Yuzu apologized, slightly embarrassed.  
The maroon-haired teen led them to the living room before obnoxiously banging on Homura's bedroom door, telling her to hurry up. An annoyed Homura came out just then, accidentally getting bashed by her friend in the process, causing Mao to receive a scathing glare. Not that it fazed her . The ravenette wore a simple purple dress that stopped just above her knees.

Homura blinked owlishly at the two Puella Magi she found in her living room as her childhood friend introduced them to each other.

"Ah... Hello..."

"Akemi-san! Mao-san told us so much about you! I'm sure we'll get along, we'll be besties in no time!", declared Yuzu with a grin, as Mao pouted in the background while mumbling something about stealing her place.  
Homura just blinked.  
"...I suppose."

"Heeeey! Shut up and grab your stuff already! Mao wouldn't stop talking about that nice restaurant and now I'm starving!"

...The personality Kyoko supposedly had was uncannily similar to Karin's, Mao noted.  
Thanks to a certain ravenette's insistance, they left rather quickly, and walked - or rather, jogged - towards their destination, where they had agreed to meet up with the other girls. Karin teased Homura here and there, and decided to nickname her 'Homurun'. She still brainstormed others, like 'Raven Rapunzel' though. Yuzu was bubbly and talkative, determined to know literally everything about her without having to just read her mind.

The maroon-haired teen watched the happy expressions on her friends' faces as they enjoyed themselves (at least, as happy as Homura would let herself look, in her case). They were just a couple of blocks away from the restaurant, and she could already sense that Mami, Sayaka, Madoka and Rukia were waiting for them.

It was sad to know there was a good chance none of them would have a happy end, either dying in action, falling into despair, or committing suicide.

Puella Magi were cursed with their grim fates, never knowing if they'd live to see the next sunrise. They were never entirely sure if they'd say hi to their loved ones - if they even had any. Never able to determine what kinds of nightmares would await them the next day.  
Never truly safe.  
Every single one of them was unconsciously aware of this, but most would ignore it.  
And they'd struggle to stay alive, many of them plastering a smile on their faces to avoid worrying their others as they'd journey down the downward spiral. But the effort was always useless, ending with their tragic deaths.

Yes, the end was the saddest part...

...But she'd at least make sure they had a happy beginning.


	16. Chapter 16

Mami, Miki, Kuchiki and Kaname patiently waited for the other girls to arrive before taking their orders. The blonde let her friends know it would be mere minutes before the they arrived. They were moving at a quick pace, just a few blocks away.  
Miki talked about how she visited Kyosuke; the two had listened to the most recent CD she bought for him. He seemed a bit distant while listening, but she was sure he enjoyed it. The conversation then changed subjects as Kuchiki teased her about her supposed 'boyfriend' - which was, honestly, quite amusing to watch.

Akemi, Suzuki and two girls she didn't know but could tell were Puella Magi entered the restaurant and went straight towards them, filling in the four seats that were left. She noticed Kuchiki looking surprised to see the two strangers for an instant - and they recognized her too - but she ignored that. It didn't matter. No wonder they'd reserved a table for eight instead of six. Mami was practically vibrating in her seat from excitement. Even more friends! Could things get any better? She had to bite her tongue to not outright interrupt them as they introduced themselves to the group.

All the happiness instantly died, however, when she heard the black-haired girl - Karin Kurosaki, was it? - speak, saw her body language in general, even her hairstyle. The ravenette was so much like her...  
Memories of a red-haired girl came crashing in waves. They'd been good friends. An unstoppable duo as Puella Magi. She was always positive, snarky and brash, the most daring and courageous person she knew back then. She practically considered her as a sister...

_And she left her._

_She probably...no, definitely wouldn't see her again._

It was her fault, she was sure of it. Had she have been there... If she'd done a better job protecting her and her family...

Mami was pulled from her thoughts by someone squeezing her hand. Yuzu Kurosaki, who sat on her right side, gave her a sad smile.

_"It's okay. I'm not sure who 'Sakura-san' is, but... I'm sure whatever happened wasn't your fault. You aren't omnipresent, Tomoe-san."_

She looked at her, gobsmacked. How...?

_"It's my main ability. I won't do it again if you feel like I'm invading your privacy but you looked a little unhappy for a second there."_

Understanding, Mami gave her a thankful look and returned to the conversation everyone was having.  
All of them paused it when the waiter came to nite down what they wanted before they continued talking.  
Unfortunately, the blonde teen was quite lost, and found herself asking everyone what they were talking about.  
Kaname was the one to answer.

"Well... Suzuki-san said something about about helping Sayaka-chan get a date with her -"

"Madoka _he's not my boyfriend!_"

Karin Kurosaki snorted.  
"Sure, that's what they all say."

"Shut up!", Miki fumed, red enough to rival a tomato.

"You first, genius."

Before Mami, Kaname or Akemi could step in to stop the upcoming argument, Suzuki innocently said:  
"Ah, Tomoe-san! Isn't he the one I sensed with you in your apartment earlier?"

Everyone followed the maroon-haired girl's gaze, and saw...Yasutora?! A look of recognition crossed Kuchiki and the twins' faces, but the others just seemed curious.  
Kuchiki went ahead and explained what she knew about him to those who didn't know the older teen at all.

Mami had one question she needed to ask Suzuki though :  
"You... were able to sense me from that far..?"

"She can! It's a habit Karin and I picked up from her, actually. Always scanning our surroundings comes in handy sometimes...she's way better at it than us, though. She can pinpoint exactly where an individual is while Karin and I can only know the general area of the person if they're at a very long distance.", explained Yuzu Kurosaki.

Her sister gave Mami a sly smirk, having latched onto the fact that Mami hadn't denied having the older teen in her apartment.

"Huh. Didn't think you were into that kind of thing...hope you didn't make enough noise to disturb the neighbors! Would be pretty awkward to listening to all that - OW! Yuzu, come on!"

"You know why I did that! Seriously, you weren't anywhere near this inappropriate a year ago! What has gotten into you?!"

The brunette scowled at her, having elbowed her in the side. Suzuki was obviously having a hard time stopping herself from outright guffawing, and a cheshire smile found itself on Kuchiki's face. Akemi just stared at Karin Kurosaki with a deadpan expression. Mami had no idea what the ravenette was talking about, and was comforted by the fact that both Kaname and Miki looked just as clueless.

"...Huh? I'm afraid I don't understand what you're talking about, Kurosaki-san..."

Suzuki bursted out laughing like there was no tomorrow, earning some glares from a few people nearby.

"Well...what would you do if you were conveniently alone with him...?", prompted the black-haired Kurosaki.

"_Karin!" _

Akemi and Yuzu Kurosaki were now glaring, and Kuchiki joined Suzuki in her laughter.  
Miki, seemingly understanding, went red enough to put Kyoko Sakura's hair to shame. Kaname was still confused, though.

"Umm... Have cake and tea?", answered the blonde, wondering what was so funny.

The smirk fell off Karin Kurosaki's face and she faceplanted on the table.

"...are you really this dumb?"

"Eh?"

"How do you think you came to be? A stork brought you?"

"Err...maybe?"

The ravenette banged her head on the table a second time, defeated. Something told Mami that she probably didn't want to know what the other girl was talking about anyway.

She thought about letting them know about the witch she had encountered, but decided to postpone the idea. It was just one witch, and she didn't want to ruin the mood.

Finally recovering from her laughter, Mao decided to ask an easier question.

"What Karin-chan really wanted to ask was: did you have fun with your boyfriend?"

Mami's thought process short-circuited. _What?_

"Wh-wha?! That's - that's not - you got it all wrong!", she exclaimed, blushing furiously.

An evil smirk replaced Miki's formerly embarrassed expression.  
"Reeeeaaalllyyyyy? Gotta wonder why you stuttered so much!"

"Sayaka-chan, that's not nice!", said Kaname, pouting at her.

Yuzu Kurosaki put on a thoughtful expression.  
"I could help you with making chocolates for the next valentine's day..."

Suzuki cut in, snorting.  
"Forget valentine's day, I'm totally arranging a date for those two! Get those chocolates ready ASAP! Make them heart-shaped while you're at it!"

Kuchiki perked up at the idea.  
"Count me in! I _need_ to see this!"

"I wonder how you'd react if we played a nice game of seven minutes in heaven and you _just so happened _to wind up with him...", Karin Kurosaki innocently suggested, watching the blonde's reaction (which had, predictably, been Mami sputtering and blushing, clearly trying to deny anything at all).

"But - that's not - I'm not - it's really not what it looks -"

"Anyway, I ship it!", interrupted Suzuki enthusiastically. " What do you think of the name SadoMami?"

Akemi just sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. Her lips twitched into a slight grin, though.

Mami was mortified. God, why?  
The waiters saved her by delivering the food, drawing everyone's attention to their meals.

Thank goodness.

...

...

...

The blonde inwardly had to admit that she did think the older teen was attractive, though.

Yuzu Kurosaki momentarily stopped eating her pizza and winked at her. Crap. She'd forgotten that the girl could hear her.

0.0

Turquoise orbs passively watched the eight individuals in the restaurant from his position on the roof of another building a few blocks away. He was shocked when he saw the Kurosaki twins at first; Lieutenant Kuchiki hadn't said anything about them being Puella Magi. He could interrogate them later; he doubted it would make much of a difference anyway (besides the older Kurosaki's rage, of course).

Toshiro Hitsugaya's main interest was Mao Suzuki. According to the lieutenant's report, she was clearly well aware of everything that happened in the Soul Society, it's history, and more, but until recently no one knew of the existence of Puella Magi. His objective was to determine if she was a danger to the Soul Society, and if so, he was to deal with her accordingly. If she wasn't, he was to coax her (and, by extension, her allies) onto their side. The head captain had clearly stated that he wouldn't tolerate having any more loose canons; Ichigo Kurosaki, Isshin Kurosaki, Ryuken Ishida, Uryu Ishida and the two Fullbringers along with the residents of the Urahara shop were already more than enough.

Shaking his head and focusing on his target once more, he was surprised to see said girl giving him a calculating stare through the window. His gaze only caught hers for a moment before she went back to eating her nachos.  
The Shinigami wasn't sure how she knew he'd been there - he was in a reiatsu-suppresing gigai _and_ wearing Urahara's reiatsu-suppressing coat; both were known to be very reliable.

If her senses were truly sharp enough to sense him from that far when he should have been invisible...

...he'd have to tread with caution, as he wasn't even aware of her abilities, and therefore, her level of power at full capacity was unknown.

0.0

Beady red eyes watched the unsuspecting Shinigami.

There were currently two highly ranked Shinigami in Mitakihara. The lieutenant had given a report to the Gotei 13. It seemed Homura Akemi either didn't know the full truth of the system or chose not to reveal that to the other girls. Because of her alliance to Mao Suzuki, a troublesome Puella Magi the Incubators had unsuccessfully tried to assassinate multiple times, it was likely to be the latter.  
Regardless, the Shinigami (with the exception of Isshin and Ichigo Kurosaki) didn't know the full truth, and that gave them more time.

But, they would have to take precautionary mesures. A little bit of time meant nothing if they didn't take advantage of it.  
This time could be used to turn the Gotei 13's attention away from the world of the living for enough time to eliminate the connection between the Soul Society and the other dimensions.

Contracting Madoka Kaname would have to be temporarily postponed ; in the current circumstances, it'd be impossible.

...

Another set of beady red eyes, in an unknown location, watched as the procedure advanced.

Brainwashing of the Quincy, with the exception of the surviving Ishidas: complete.

Acquirement of Sosuke Aizen's alliance: complete, albeit temporary with manipulation. Brainwashing would be used whenever necessary.

Both were currently submissive.

Completion of current experiment with the help of beta subject number three: in progress.


	17. Chapter 17

It was almost one in the morning. Empty bags of chips, candy wrappers, soda cans and cookie packets were carelessly tossed all over the place around the eight girls who were playing a game of Uno.  
Mao munched on a donut and held her last card in the other hand. The next card to be put on the pile would determine whether she'd win or not. She waited patiently as Madoka took her time deciding which card she wanted to put down. Karin looked bored (pretty much her version of a neutral expression) as she ate the last few chips in a bag before tossing it in a random direction. Sayaka was having a hard time staying awake, her eyelids closing for a few seconds before she'd jerk them open...only for them to close again. Homura just watched stoically, an Mami took a few more sips from a can of soda. Rukia, being the one with the most cards left (the teen would never understand how on earth she managed to collect fourteen cards...) constantly arranged and rearranged them, even though it wasn't her turn. Yuzu yawned, apparently tired (oh hey Sayaka just fell asleep... Maybe she could take a peek at her cards?... Nah, that would suck the fun out of the game).

The pinkette finally put down her chosen card, clearly hoping Mao would have to take two more instead of placing her last one. She had no such luck; the maroon-haired teen claimed victory for the third time in a row.  
Mao got up and stretched, announcing that she'd have to go to the bathroom but that they could just continue without her.

That wasn't what she had in mind though.

The Puella Magi had decided that she liked Sayaka; the girl didn't deserve to have the same fate as her. Plus, while Homura was visibly disturbed by her idea to eradicate what would later be the cause of the bluenette's contract (which was illogical, really - it was the easiest way to save her!) she never explicitly told her not to do it.  
Once the girl got to the bathroom, she passed it without hesitation and headed towards Homura's room. No one was following her - except that white haired boy she saw from the restaurant window earlier, but he didn't seem keen of following her into buildings. That was something she'd use to her advantage.  
Mao entered her friend's room, opened the window and jumped out, transforming during the fall. The teen never hit the ground, instead kicking off the wall behind her and sailing towards the next building. Despite the fact that the ravenette didn't know she had left, it wouldn't take her long to figure it out since she muffled her magic. She'd have to make this quick.

...

The target's name was Kyosuke Kamijo...it wouldn't take long to find him if she could just find the information she needed on the damned computer.  
Mao had entered the hospital by a window near the back door. The Shinigami couldn't go in after her if he wanted to avoid suspicion, but she'd probably have to come up with a cover story for this anyway. She managed to sneak past most of the staff, but once she entered the secretary's office she was forced to kill the confused and alarmed secretary to avoid any witnesses. Trying to find his particular location was becoming a real time-consuming problem, however, and she knew Homura was probably already starting to sniff around. That wasn't good.

The Puella Magi sighed. It seemed she'd have to go for a flashier solution.  
She went back to her civilian clothes and reached into her purse. Finding what she was looking for, she looked around to see if there was anyone she could plant the blame on...  
Her eyes spotted a particularly bulky young man. Perfect.

At least she'd anticipated this possibility.

0.0

Everyone except Homura and Mao left the apartment at about ten in the morning, thanking the ravenette for her hospitality.

To say that Homura was pissed would be quite the understatement. She listened as the reporter on the television continued to talk about what everyone thought was a terrorist attack, but she was well aware that that wasn't the case. Not a single person survived. Not surprising, when one considered the fact that the 'terrorist' had made sure to bomb not just what supported the hospital - after the building finished collapsing, said 'terrorist' had conveniently set some remaining bombs to explode a few seconds later than the rest, killing any would-be survivors.

A poor man, who was clearly very out of it, had been falsely accused of the crime. He did try to deny having done the crime here and there, but the policemen had evidence against him and saw his head injury, immediately assuming he had amnesia. They arrested him without a second thought.

What the _hell_ was Mao thinking?! The entire hospital?! _Really?!_

The culprit, who sat on the couch beside her, watched the news like it was about the weather while happily eating a sandwich. The ravenette had no doubt in her mind that Sayaka was definitely devastated (or would be soon if she somehow was still oblivious to this), but she had no idea how she could cheer her up - this had never happened before!

Plus, this forced her to acknowledge the fact that her friend was extremely dangerous. Her definition of right and wrong may have been irreversibly twisted, but that didn't automatically make it okay for her to just kill a few hundred people. What was she supposed to do?  
Telling the others was a big no-no; Sayaka and Madoka would go straight to the authorities, and it was likely that Rukia and Mami would try to kill her. If Mao survived going against the two of them, it would only be because she killed them. It didn't take a genius to know she would put down anyone who tried to arrest her (if the police believed Madoka and Sayaka to begin with). As if that wasn't enough, Rukia's death would paint a target on Mao's back since the Soul Society wouldn't just sweep a lieutenant's death under the rug (...at least she didn't think they would). Homura didn't know the Kurosakis well at all, but she imagined that it wouldn't end well.  
The girl had already refused to see a therapist, believing that she was perfectly sane (even after being confused when Homura was furious with her for ending so many innocent people's lives, not for going against what she thought). Her justification for her actions? 'I was just preventing Sayaka's contract; the rest was collateral damage. Plenty of them were probably gonna die anyway.'

Homura pinched the bridge of her nose, feeling a headache coming up. Predictably, her childhood friend (ahem, murderer) noticed and immediately tried to cheer her up.

"Hey, come on! Sayaka-chan's safe now! It's not like she's got anyone else important enough to make a wish for!"

...The ravenette decided not to let her know about the girl's family and other friends, for fear of something similar happening in the near future.

Not wanting to continue to think about this, Homura got up and turned off the television.  
"Mao, where is everyone?"

"Hmm? Mami-chan is in her house with Yasutora. Sayaka-chan's loitering around the destroyed hospital along with Madoka-chan and plenty of other people...she seems to be sad about something... Rukia-chan is outside the window eavesdropping and making an effort to cover her reiatsu -"

Unimpressed, Homura parted the curtains and opened the window; Kuchiki, who'd indeed had her ear against it, fell right in with an undignified yelp.  
Looking back at Mao, she asked her to continue where she left off.

"Yuzu-chan and her sister are out of range, so I'm assuming they're back in Karakura. Oh, and there's been another Shinigami spying on us - more specifically, me - since last night. I'm not sure what he wants..."

Homura nodded, taking in the new information (and trying not to panic at the mention of a new Shinigami).  
"...I see."

Homura was suddenly very glad she'd talked to Mao about her mass murder with the time stopped. Everything would have been ruined if the two Shinigami heard about that.

Kuchiki, who'd rubbed feeling back into her nose (she had landed on her face) looked at the maroon-haired teen like she had two heads.  
"You...you could still sense him?"

"Well yeah! Whatever he was using wasn't as good as he probably thought...", answered Mao, as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.

It was then that the voice of an unknown person came from outside.  
"I see... I suppose continuing to hide would be pointless."

The black-haired teen raised her head, and found a relatively short, white-haired boy with turquoise colored eyes that seemed to be around her age sitting on the windowsill. His gaze was cool, but not threatening. He wasn't wearing anything special; a black t-shirt and a pair of jeans. He nodded towards the two girls in greeting.

"I am Toshiro Hitsugaya, captain of the tenth squad."

...

Homura wasn't sure how to react, but her friend didn't even miss a beat.

"...Eh? Why'd they let a kid be a captain? I knew you were the youngest, but this is just ridiculous! I mean look he's super cheeky and all! Are you sure this isn't some kind of prank?"

Kuchiki grimaced, watching the captain and looking like she was ready to bolt. Homura understood why once the temperature of the room dropped a few degrees.

If Mao had noticed the not-so-subtle hint that screamed _shut up_, she didn't show it, and what she said next made Homura want to permanently close her mouth with superglue and cover it with duct tape.

"Oh, look! Poor, poor little Shiro-chipmunk got angryyyyy~"

0.0

After waiting for a few hours as Sayaka looked blankly at the pure devastation that used to be the hospital and was now blocked off by police, Madoka gently coaxed the bluenette into going back home, or at least somewhere where she could feel at ease. The girl's face was dry - she'd already bawled several times, mourning Kyosuke and by extension, the other innocent people's deaths. From what the pinkette could see, she was clearly feeling exhausted and depressed...which was to be expected.

Madoka was at a loss. Tomoe, Akemi and Suzuki had made it clear that a witch's kiss would only make a person go to the labyrinth or commit suicide. That meant that what happened was done on purpose by someone who knew what they were doing. She couldn't just blame this on a witch.  
The pinkette didn't know why, but she wasn't sure she could bring herself to actually hate the man despite it all. She couldn't quite place what it was about it just seemed...wrong, somehow. But he evidence was clear as day ; his fingerprints were on a bomb that hadn't detonated, and he'd been caught on camera near the secretary's office - where one of the bombs had exploded - looking around suspiciously right before the camera stopped working. It was vague, but apparently enough for people to draw conclusions.

The teen was sure of one thing though: she'd support Sayaka as well as she could, because she knew that that boy had meant a lot to her.  
With that in mind, she led the distraught girl to her house, pulling her along by the hand since she wouldn't walk otherwise.

Not a single word was spoken between the two.


	18. Chapter 18

The next day, an exhausted Madoka reluctantly dragged herself out of bed and went through her usual morning routine (albeit a little sluggishly).

She didn't want anything to do with school. After the shock she and Sayaka had had when they saw the remains of the hospital, the pinkette honestly didn't even want to leave her room. The only thing that got the girl our of bed was the fact that she knew that Sayaka was probably feeling much worse. Unlike Madoka herself, the bluenette actually lost someone precious to her. She was well aware that despite how much her friend would never admit it, she had a crush on the boy. Naturally, she knew a lot of other people there as well because of how often she visited.

The teen made her way to Sayaka's house first, having left her home extra early. Knowing that girl, she was going to try to skip classes...which meant she'd have to try to convince her to attend.

It didn't take much time at all to reach her best friend's house. What did take a while, however, was getting her to open the door. The pinkette knocked several times, and once it was clear that Sayaka wasn't going to open up, she shouldered her schoolbag and went to climb a tree that was close enough to the girl's window.

Hopefully, no one would say anything about the schoolgirl sneaking into a house like a sorry excuse of a burglar.

Having known her since she was little, she knew the bluenette had a habit of leaving her bedroom window open.  
The knowledge served her well as she clumsily flopped in through said window...and landed on Sayaka, who'd been in bed and under her covers.

Madoka promptly apologized and picked herself up and off the other girl, who had yet to react. In fact, she barely even moved.  
Sighing, she yanked the blanket off her.

"Sayaka-chan, we really should be on our way to school now - we'll be late of you don't hurry!"

"..."

"Please? I'm sure Kamijo-kun wouldn't want you to get so depressed..."

"..."

"Everyone is going to get worried, Sayaka! I know you're sad but you can't be moping all the time... Did you at least eat after I brought you back home yesterday?"

Sayaka finally looked at her. It hadn't been more than a day since she started acting that way, but her hair was matted and greasy to the point that she could have sworn it'd been at least a week. The girl clearly didn't get a wink of sleep if the bags under her eyes and the dried tear tracks running down her face were any indication. Heck, she hadn't even changed out of the clothes she'd been wearing the day before...  
"...I'm not hungry..."

"That's not true! Come on, I won't force you to go to school but you really need to eat... I'll make breakfast, okay?"

"...I'm not hungry..."

Madoka didn't pay her any mind and went downstairs, where she knew the kitchen and dining room were located. She brought out the tray the two had used many times to bring food to the bedroom during sleepovers.  
Snooping around a bit for ingredients, she eventually settled for just making a simple breakfast in order to get back upstairs quickly. She had a feeling the bluenette still hadn't even gotten up.  
The teen put a few slices of bread in the toaster and set on preparing some scrambled eggs. Her cooking was average at best, but it'd have to be good enough. Not that Sayaka would be _that_ picky anyway.

Minutes later, she served the food - and she had to admit it looked a little messy, but hey! She tried! - and put it on the tray along with a glass of milk and some butter.  
Madoka checked the time on her phone and, judging by how Sayaka was acting, ended up grudgingly accepting that she'd have to skip school and face the consequences later in order to take care of the other girl.

It was at moments like these that she wished the bluenette's parents would be around more often instead of being 'too busy' with their jobs. It was saddening for her to see that Sayaka always had to be the one to call her parents to be in contact with them at all - they never seemed to actually give their own daughter much (if any) attention. The bluenette would tell them whenever she was going to hang out with her friends or some other activity, but they clearly didn't really care, which made it unnecessary. It was just another way to communicate with them while trying not to look too clingy.

Shaking her head, Madoka took the tray and walked back up the stairs, careful not to spill the milk on her way.

She never noticed the burgundy-colored eyes watching from outside one of he windows, or the dead body of an incubator hanging from the very tree she'd climbed to get in the house.

0.0

Homura wasn't surprised to see that Sayaka and a few other classmates were absent because of the hospital incident. She was still disappointed when the pinkette didn't turn up, though. She fought down the urge to go check on them; everything would be fine. They were under Mao's protection.  
Despite the fact that the girl wasn't completely sane, she knew for a fact that no harm would come to the two girls as long as she was alive, no matter the cost. The proof? She had preferred the death of more than a hundred innocent patients of a hospital over that of just one of the girls Homura wanted to protect. It was an immmoral way of thinking, but it worked in the ravenette's favor - at least, for the time being.

Thinking back to the day before, she had to admit that it was slightly amusing to see the supposed 'captain' practically explode in rage and almost freeze her entire apartment as Mao would continue mocking him for his apparent age and his height (as if _she _could talk; the maroon-haired girl was actually an inch or two shorter than him, making her incredibly small in comparison to everyone else). Once she and Kuchiki finally got her to just _shut up_, the two apologized on her behalf as she stuck her tongue at him in the background.  
Homura didn't miss the fleeting, calculating looks Mao shot him, as though she was checking if he had any weapons on him, and by the amount of prodding her magic had been doing to him, she must have also taken a look at his reiatsu's level.  
The only reason the teen had noticed at all was the fact that she'd known her for a pretty long time.

It was almost scary how the girl could be supposedly playing around with someone - or just having a conversation - when in reality she was actually thoroughly scrutinizing and sizing up the individual.

After that little shenanigan, she noticed that the boy seemed to be tailing Mao almost everywhere, and was significantly less cold towards her than anyone else (though she could tell that the 'nicer' attitude was forced).The teen wasn't kidding when she said she was being watched.

0.0

Toshiro watched as Suzuki continued to stalk the two girls. He couldn't see why the girl would feel the need to constantly monitor her two supposed friends. She didn't give a straight answer when he asked, though - even if she would have, he had the feeling she'd omit important details.

Looking back at the dead cat-like creature she had called 'Kyubey', he also had to wonder why the girl felt the need to kill it if it was harmless to the two of them and out of reach of the teens she was keeping an eye on. But again, she clearly didn't trust him enough to actually tell him.  
That was a problem he'd have to fix soon if he was to accomplish his mission.

Hours passed. Despite the sheer number of times he'd adjusted his position on the tree branch, he had cramps everywhere. The maroon-haired girl smirked at him as she saw his little struggle, making him grumble under his breath.  
The two girls in the house stayed in the bedroom, meaning that Suzuki wasn't planning on going anywhere...meaning that he was still stuck in such an uncomfortable place.  
The fact that many people passed by, giving them strange looks, pointing, making rude gestures, and some even making them hide to avoid getting spotted by police once they were called wasn't helping. Well, in hindsight, they did look like burglars or stalkers from other people's point of view...

Suzuki suddenly perked up, as though listening to something, before she sighed and jumped down from her spot in the tree.  
"Come on, Chipmunk-kun. We gotta go help Mami-chan!"

The young captain wasn't quite sure what she was talking about - he wasn't sensing anything - but instead of asking (she probably wouldn't answer anyway), he latched onto the one thing that bothered him as he jumped down.  
"I _told_ you not to call me that! That's _Hitsugaya_ to you!"

"Don't care!", the maroon-haired girl chirped dismissively as she walked away, obviously expecting him to follow.

She.

Was.

_Infuriating. _

For what was probably the hundredth time that day, the boy was forced to reign in his anger, grit his teeth, and shut up in order to refrain from saying anything that could potentially botch his assignment.  
Speaking of which, when was he supposed to let her know of the reason he was there? Should he have done it when he first came, or would that have been too soon? Could he tell her now? Or was he supposed to wait some more?

...They really should have given this job to someone who was better with this kind of thing...he wasn't even sure if he made a good impression (okay, scratch that - the rage he'd shown at Akemi's house was probably incredibly immature) or if he was truly on the Puella Magi's good side. Trying to sneak around and befriend the others in order to lure her to his side wasn't going to work - he'd tried less, and found out the hard way that she was just too perceptive and analytical for him to try to manipulate, even for the simplest things.

"Okaaay! We're here!", said girl announced, snapping him out of his thoughts.

Toshiro looked around, finding himself right in front of where the hospital used to be. He remembered when he'd been forced to temporarily abandon his post tailing Suzuki because of the sheer number of souls he'd had to send to Soul Society once the incident happened.  
What was the point in bringing him there? The area was deserted...  
It was then that he was suspicious of the Puella Magi once more. She'd been sneaking around and had entered the hospital whilst clearly trying to avoid being seen minutes before the entire place had been bombarded and collapsed. He wasn't entirely sure it was really a 'terrorrist attack' as everyone else seemed to think.

The captain looked up at her and found her smiling at him. His eyes narrowed. Was it his imagination, or was she expecting something from him? Her stance was laid-back though, so she wasn't planning to fight, as far as he could tell...or was that to bring his guard down?...she was almost as hard to read as Ichimaru.

...

Just thinking of the snake made him almost sick, and for a second he tensed, instantly shoving down those thoughts - along with his sudden bloodlust.

"...Why are we here? There is nothing in particular in this area."

Her smile just widened, eyes boring into his soul.  
"You really don't feel it? There's a witch nearby!... You seem to be thinking of something else, though."

She took a step closer. Toshiro stood his ground.  
"Yasutora went after Mami-chan, so I think they'll be able to hold out on their own...buuut, it's not like I'm always right, and that one's a strong one..."

Another step, and he was starting to feel a little threatened. He wasn't quite sure how - perhaps it was just instinct telling him, or maybe the way the smile was starting to look more like a mask than a genuine one - but saying the wrong thing now would definitely not end well, he was sure if it.

"...but I wouldn't prefer having someone who might stab me in the back pretending to fight alongside me in there. Don't think I didn't feel the way your reiatsu fluctuated just now, _Hitsugaya-kun_."

And there it was. He was almost sure the girl could practically see the gears turning in his head as he mentally scrambled to find a good answer to that. What could he possibly say, though?  
She beat him to it.

"You know, I'm perfectly fine with becoming allies with the Gotei Thirteen. I mean, my friends would be under it's protection, so it's in my best interest!", she said in her usual cheery voice.

He didn't relax. Something was _off_ -

Toshiro found himself abruptly grabbed by the collar with a bruising grip and yanked down to meet her dead in the eye. The smile had turned into a toothy grin, and her eyes had widened and become almost dull, giving her an unsettling appearance.  
His pulse was thundering in his ears now, and he was barely restraining the urge to shove her away to create some distance between them. It was only now that he was able to feel her bloodlust, and it almost shook him to the core. The pent-up rage was practically tangible, and he was pretty sure the murderous intent that rolled off of her in waves could give Kenpachi a run for his money.  
What she said next was barely a whisper, but she may as well have yelled it to his face with how loud and clear he'd heard it.

"But if any of you even sneezes funny..."

The hand gripping his collar snapped up and wrapped itself around his throat, severely restricting his breathing. The captain's pride prevented him from showing it, though.

"... I'll dismiss the fact that the little Kurosakis like you, and you'll have a sworn enemy on your hands. Do you understand, Hitsugaya-kun?"

He set his jaw and was careful not to glare, disliking the way she was threatening him.  
"...Yes."

Suzuki immediately let go of him, her usual cheery smile back on her face, skipping ahead of him as if nothing ever happened and opening the labyrinth she'd been looking for.

"Glad we came to an agreement! Now come on - Yasutora and Mami-chan are obviously having some trouble with this one - otherwise, they'd already be back!"

Toshiro rubbed his neck while her back was turned - that was definitely gonna leave a mark - and followed, debating on his next course of action. She accepted the alliance without much insistence at all, but...this wasn't going to work if she was distrustful to the point of resorting to violence so easily.

The question was: how on earth _could_ he gain her trust?


	19. Chapter 19

How could she have been so reckless?

Mere moments before, Mami had no trouble with the witch Charlotte. It was, in hindsight, going a little too well, but the girl hadn't truly been paying attention to the battle. Instead of focusing - which could have prevented her near-death - she'd been planning to make another get together for her and her friends about a week from then.  
A very stupid, but fatal mistake.  
As the monster's teeth closed in around her throat, however, it was brutally blasted away by none other than Yasutora. It turned out that the older teen had followed her once he saw her entering the labyrinth.

Mami pulled some more magic from her soul gem, forcing it to heal her neck faster and numb the pain. Her head may not have been severed from her body, but the close call still caused deep gashes. Considering that she still couldn't breathe and the amount of blood that was still pouring out of the wound, the Puella Magi thought that it was a miracle that she was still alive.  
The fact that the Fullbringer had only checked her soul gem for damage and wasn't worried about her injury - which should have been fatal - bugged her a little, but the blonde reasoned with herself that he was probably just making sure she had enough magic to heal herself. Now wasn't the time for questions anyway.

This witch turned out to be a fairly hard one to defeat. It didn't matter how many times they destroyed it; it would literally vomit another clone of itself, forcing the two fighters to start over from square one every time. That was starting to become very annoying...but at least it's labyrinth wasn't as bad as the previous one she and Yasutora had been against not too long ago.

...

The long fight and the lack of grief seeds to replenish her magic were starting to take a toll on Mami about half an hour later. She knew that she could continue for much longer, but the fact was that she wasn't used to fighting for this long. Her aim became less accurate, and she was becoming a bit sluggish (mostly because she had numbed the feeling of pain). Familiars started appearing in quantity, making them a distraction from the witch itself since the two teens had to be wary of them or risk getting a nasty surprise.

Eventually, it seemed her worst fear would occur. The older teen - who was, by now, someone she considered to be a friend - was cornered. The familiars weren't giving any openings, and jumping wasn't an option since the witch was right above him.

The blonde was much too far to hope to have an accurate aim, and knew she'd probably unintentionally hit him instead.  
She was also too far to ensnare the witch with her ribbons - and that went without saying that she probably couldn't summon a ribbon or a musket in time to begin with, with how sluggish she'd become...  
But now wasn't the time for second-guessing. It was now or never.

She hastily summoned a large canon - it came out slightly deformed, but the girl was well beyond caring, she knew it was still able to function - and, lacking the tine to properly aim, she threw caution to the wind.  
She fired.

And, of course, she missed. She'd shot about half a meter to the left of the monster.

It happily ignored her attempt to blow it's head off and went in for the kill. Yasutora now held a grim expression, but didn't seem hesitant to face it head-on, readying his left arm to try and hit it at point-blank without getting devoured in the process.  
From his current position, however, Mami was just about sure that that'd be near impossible.

It was over.

Her friend was going to die, and she couldn't do anything about it.

{~$~}

_Mami was tired, but happy. She and her parents were in their car and on their way back home from the resort they'd stayed at for summer vacation . The day was perfect, too. It was sunny, the birds were chirping, and everything was calm. Yawning, she made herself comfortable in her seat and was just about ready to sleep._

{~$~}

Tears blurred her vision as she forced herself to flash-step as fast as she could towards him, unwilling to accept losing another person.

{~$~}

_Her mother suddenly screamed, and her father practically smashed the brakes, but it was too late._  
_She heard a very loud crash, the world went upside-down...and everything went black._

{~$~}

Her body started to strain, receiving way too much magic at a time. She continued, uncaring, disregarding her injuries. Her neck wounds reopened. She ignored them.

{~$~}

_The blonde went in and out of consciousness, not staying awake for more than a few seconds. At times, she could swear she could hear sirens in the distance._  
_She was also almost sure she saw something huge and black with a white mask, but would later dismiss it as a hallucination._

{~$~}

The witch was less than a meter away from him now. She pumped more magic into her muscles, causing her blood to start oozing out of the pores of her skin. It didn't matter. She was a few hundred meters away. Just needed to be a little faster...

{~$~}

_Mami finally woke up for what she was sure would be the last time._

{~$~}

Her major arteries exploded. Two hundred meters left.  
She had to make it.

{~$~}

_She saw a cute, cat-like creature on the windowsill of the car_.

{~$~}

Her bones started to crack. A few dozen meters.  
She _would_make it.

{~$~}

_"Make a wish", it said. "It will save you", it said._

{~$~}

Her nerves fried. Her body was now only working because of the excessive magic. Just a couple more meters.  
_She couldn't let him die._

{~$~}

_The girl reached out to it, pitifully weak._  
_"S-save...me..."_

_...She never once thought to save her parents..._

{~$~}

Her heart failed and her lungs collapsed.

He was _right there,_nearly engulfed by the witch's jaws.

_SHE WOULDN'T LET HIM DIE._

0.0

Mao realized that she probably should have saved the confrontation for later. Welp, nothing she could do about that anymore!  
She passively watched as Hitsugaya got out of his gigai and immediately activated his zanpakuto.  
The Puella Magi didn't even bother. That 'Yasutora' dude Mami seemed to be so fond of didn't look like he was gonna survive that one. There was no need to be worried about Mami; the blonde was much too far to be able to do anything about it, if she estimated the girl's speed in battle correctly. This meant that she wouldn't be able to interfere, eliminating the possibility of her getting hurt. As a result, the maroon-haired teen didn't care about the death that was likely about to happen right in front of her.  
She'd seen so many before, so why care about that of an individual she didn't know? If he didn't want to die, he shouldn't have come into the labyrinth.

She blinked, surprised, when Mami practically appeared right beside Yasutora and shoved him out of the way, putting herself in danger. Her usual cheerful expression soured a little.

Since when was she _that_ fast?!

Mao flash-stepped to the blonde teen, finding her bloodied and unconscious. There was no need to worry about the witch anymore; Hitsugaya had frozen it right before she got there.  
As the witch broke into pieces and the labyrinth wobbled out of existence, she used one of her spare grief seeds on Mami's murky soul gem and begun to heal the worst of the wounds. Everything was damaged, from the arteries to most of the important organs of the body...not even the pores of her skin were spared, having been stretched open much more than what should have been possible.

Overall? It was a gruesome sight. If she hadn't already been used to seeing these kind of things, she probably would've been scarred for life.

However, all of these wounds seemed to have been inflicted because of a magic overload. She'd probably have to help her learn how to use more magic than usual without hurting herself, then.  
The Puella Magi gingerly picked her friend up and off the ground, and looked up to see the other two individuals. Yasutora was silent, simply watching. He was sneaking a few glances to Mami though, obviously worried.  
Darkness started clouding her mind.

What right did he have to be worried?

It was _his_ fault her friend had nearly died, and now he was going to act like he was worried?

No...hE waSn'T wOrRied.

_H__**e**___**p**Ut _**hEr**_**In** d**A**Ng**er...**

...**TH**e _**nEr**__V__**e**_ **of** T**hAt** _b__**aST**__aR__**d**__..._

_.__**...He WaS a dANgeR tO Mami...**___

_**...HE... wAs a DAnGer... TO aLL Of THEM...**_

_**...SHE... HAD TO...**____**ELIMINATE-**_

Mao snapped out of her thoughts when Hitsugaya quickly came in front of her, simultaneously handing over the grief seed and blocking her view of the older teen. She blinked. Ah... She'd been starting to get tunnel vision before he stepped in, hadn't she? Her stance relaxed, and she dismissed the aggressive tone her magic had abruptly taken. She also took a few steps back, realizing that she'd approached the older teen a bit too much for comfort, and loosened her vice-like grip on Mami's body.

That...probably would not have ended well.

The teen quickly plastered a toothy grin on her face, causing both the boys' eyes to widen, before acting as though nothing ever happened, accepting the grief seed and offering to invite Yasutora over to Homura's in order to heal him along with Mami. The older teen looked like he wanted to refuse before he looked at the unconscious blonde again and reluctantly accepted.  
Not surprising. She'd just slipped, after all. Really, the girl would definitely have to find a way to keep her anger in check...

It was mutually decided that they'd have to jump across the rooftops to get to their destination ; there was just no way they could walk there because of the state Mami was in.

...

Mao made sure to stay in front of Yasutora during the short trip ; it would be inconvenient to have him beside her since she was almost sure it would put him on edge thanks to her little moment of blind rage. Hitsugaya, in the other hand, was more than bold enough to stay just a meter or two to her right - even if he was clearly put-off by her sudden change of attitude.

Eventually, about halfway to Homura's house, Hitsugaya did surprise her by coming up close and matching her pace, obviously wanting to keep his voice low enough to prevent the other teen from hearing what he had to say. Curious, she used a little bit of magic to enhance her hearing in order to prevent him from having to repeat himself.

"Suzuki, I don't suppose you would know what is going on, but... I have been unable to contact the Soul Society for a while now."

She raised a brow. So, he was going to ignore her outburst? Well, so be it.

"You can't contact them at all? Why don't you use a senkaimon?", she inquired, already feeling that she had a good idea what was going on.

"The senkaimon wobbled out of existence the second I summoned it on my first try. The second time, it didn't even appear. My phone isn't damaged, but calling them doesn't work. Lieutenant Kuchiki has been having similar results."

Yep, definitely the Incubators...but why was he telling her this at all? Last time she checked, he was being cautious around her, trying to avoid getting on her bad side.  
Mao eyed him as if it'd be written on his forehead or something. The boy was looking resolutely ahead.  
She thought back a little. So far, Hitsugaya had been trying to make her an ally of the Gate 13. In fact, she was pretty sure it was the only reason he came. Clearly, he hadn't been happy with her lack of trust towards him, though.

...Oh.

By giving her information (and potentially seeking advice) , he was probably trying to emphasize the fact that he was willing to trust her with important things like these if she was going to cooperate. This may have been done in order to encourage her to stop being so closed off...  
But that was much too easy to figure out, so either he wanted her to see what he was doing, or she got it all wrong... Or maybe she was just overthinking it...

It was at moments like these that she wished she had Yuzu's abilities.

Well, she _had_wanted to be on the Soul Society's side, hadn't she? In fact, she was the one who'd been all about winning them over for a war that was likely to begin soon, if the Incubators' actions were anything to go by...  
The teen supposed that she'd have to at least be a little useful if she wanted to be serious about that at all, but that didn't mean that right there and then were the best time and place to discuss that.

"...I have a hypothesis as to what is happening, but we'll need to talk about it later. Perhaps tomorrow, if you aren't busy?"

He nodded.  
"That would be adequate. I'll be sure to inform Lieutenant Kuchiki."

"Don't bring her along. We can tell Homu-chan and Rukia-chan later; if we all leave now, that would give the Incubators the opportunity to contract other girls here. We don't need that complication right now."

By other girls, the maroon-haired girl actually meant Madoka and Sayaka... But he didn't need to know that.

The Puella Magi abruptly dropped down in front of the building Homura's apartment was located in, cutting off any further communication.


	20. Chapter 20

Homura made her way home as the sun was setting.  
After school, she'd gone to see Kyoko - it was about time she sought out the redhead. She was difficult to convince since Mami was still alive and kicking, but the ravenette managed to get her to compromise by promising to give her the Wapurgisnacht's grief seed after defeating it. Being a legendary witch, it wouldn't be too far-fetched to assume that it would give a grief seed that'd be able to purify a soul gem much more than a regular one.  
During that time, Kuchiki had gone to Karakura to check on the Kurosakis, promising to be back the next day.

Once Homura had successfully recruited the redhead, she made her way towards Sayaka's house, intent on checking on her.  
During her stay, she concluded that Sayaka wasn't coping well at all, but wasn't inclined to become a Puella Magi...yet. In fact, it seemed like the bluenette hadn't even thought about it. Homura knew she'd have to keep tabs on her more than ever now, but then again, the Incubators seemed to have made themselves scarce.

...But was that really a good thing?

Homura was many things, but optimistic wasn't one of them. Such a thing had never happened before, and having the little devils just up and dissappear was _way_ too good to be true.  
Had it switched objectives? The thought was almost unfathomable - she was sure she'd been repeating the last month and a half for at least a few years just because they wouldn't _leave Madoka alone_ \- but a lot of unusual things had happened in his timeline, so she felt the need to at least consider the possibility. However, instead if being comforted by the fact that it may not be after the pinkette anymore...she felt a horrible sense of foreboding.  
From her experience alone, if she learned anything, it'd be that the Incubators never had good intentions. Therefore, this change couldn't be a positive one. Every time things looked alright, something would always happen to ruin it...

So...what on earth was going on...?

There was a gust of wind, and her hair was blown straight into her face, cutting off her thought process.  
The Puella Magi suddenly froze and realized with a start that the street was completely empty, devoid of all signs of life.

_That wasn't normal. That__never__happened._

The street lamps flickered for a moment before turning off completely, leaving her in almost complete darkness.

_She should leave..._

Feeling urgent, Homura didn't bother to actually transform, conjuring her shield and spreading her magic, trying to sense anyone nearby. It was probably another Puella Magi...right?  
Having failed to sense anything, the ravenette put down her school bag and resorted to looking around. If there was someone dangerous, it'd be better to deal with it sooner than later.

_This was a very bad idea..._

Homura ignored her gut feeling. This wasn't the time to be a coward. Whoever this was, they could affect whether she succeeded or not in this timeline if they were as threatening as she thought.

_Run..._

The hairs on the back of Homura's neck stood. Someone was behind her, and her soul gem glowed extremely brightly, enough to light up at least a dozen meters around her.

_**Run...**_

The girl forcefully shoved down her fear, and turned around. She nearly wished she hadn't.

Orange eyes with black sclera and devoid of pupils bore into hers. The humanoid, deathly pale creature tilted it's head, watching her. It's lips never once moved, but it's hoarse, high-pitched voice was crystal clear, as though the air itself had been it's voice.

"...Pytho...ni...ssam..."

There was an unbearable amount of pressure all around her now, something Homura was appalled she hadn't noticed earlier. It was hard to even breathe, let alone stand.  
The creature's eyes glowed, a toothless smirk large enough to literally reach it's ears split it's face, and Homura lost her composure.

_**RUN!**_

She went to stop time, but apparently, her reaction time had been much too slow.

"...Male...di...co..."

Her vision flickered for a moment, and pain blossomed in her abdomen. The humanoid monster had dissappeared entirely, her soul gem stopped glowing as brightly, and the streetlights slowly turned back on, though they remained dim. There was enough light, however, for her to realize that she didn't recognize the street.

The ravenette had no idea when she had unintentionally dispelled her shield...or when she had been moved, let alone where.

Looking down, she found her innards spilled out on the floor, and her heart floating in the air in front of her, before it dropped onto the ground with the rest of the gore. Her entire ribcage had been twisted outward, looking like a mockery of wings, and blood pooled around her.

_When did it even attack her? _

"W...w-ha...a...a...kkkkkk-"

Confused, shocked and frightened for the first time in what felt like years, Homura nearly choked on her own blood, barely managing to cough it out before the entire world turned and she felt like her back and the back of her head had been hit.

She...fell backwards...?

Black spots started appearing at the edges of her vision, an her eyelids became heavy.  
Distantly, she thought she heard footsteps, though she couldn't quite tell whether they were going away or coming closer.

The last thing she saw before fading unto unconsciousness was a worried-looking young man - when had he gotten there...? - with black hair and dark-blue eyes, and who wore glasses.

0.0

Mami woke up to a white ceiling, and was momentarily confused before she realized that she was in Homura's house.  
She slowly sat up, finding that she had a slight headache, and looked around. The guest room was relatively simple but comfortable; there was just the bed she'd been laying in, a nightstand and a small closet. The clock on the nightstand indicated that it was around four o'clock in the morning.

It didn't take long at all for the other people in the house to notice that she'd woken up - in fact, the second she stood from the bed, the door slammed open, and the blonde barely registered the maroon-colored blur that came straight towards her before Suzuki pretty much barrelled straight into her.

"MAAMIIII-CHAAAAN! I THOUGHT YOU'D NEVER WAKE UUUP!"

"E-ehh?"

Finding herself knocked back down with her friend continuously bawling crocodile tears and acting incredibly childishly, she looked to the doorway and found an amused Yasutora just outside the room along with a short, bored looking white-haired stranger who was leaning against the doorframe.  
The stranger just nodded at her and left - presumably going to the living room - while Yasutora let her know that they'd prepared some sandwiches for a midnight snack in case she woke up, and invited her to come around if she was hungry.

It was then that they both noticed that Suzuki started giggling, and she suddenly blurted out:

"Actually, Yasutora wouldn't stop coming to check on you like a mother hen! Hitsugaya-kun is the one who finally convinced him to stop drooling at your face!"

Mami's jaw dropped. _What?_  
She turned to Yasutora, who shook his head, a frown now present.

"But that's not all!", she continued, completely ignoring their exchange, "He wanted to call a friend of his to get you to heal faster! He was so worried for his damsel in distress! I wonder when he'll pop the question!"

She blinked, completely missing the implications of the last sentence. _He was really that worried?_  
Feeling grateful, she smiled and thanked Yasutora, who was silently looking away - was that a blush she saw? Nah, probably just her imagination...

The white-haired stranger - probably the one Suzuki called 'Hitsugaya' - came back, his phone in hand.

"There's no longer any need to worry about Akemi. A friend of the Kurosakis found her."

..._What? Something had happened?_

He looked at her, clearly noticing her change of mood.

"I know him. She's safe from anyone who may attack her again...I'll be letting you two catch up, now.", he said, smirking slightly as he gestured for Suzuki to leave with him.

Oh dear lord.

She didn't even know him and Suzuki already roped him into believing that she and Yasutora had a relationship? Really?

She sighed, slightly ticked off...but also embarrassed.

0.0

Brown eyes watched as the residents of Karakura town - or at least, the night owls that would still be outside at that hour - merrily went by their peaceful lives, unaware of any and all of the supernatural dangers that existed.

The individual frowned. If it hadn't been for _him,_ he'd be ruling the worlds, he'd be royalty.

But... that would be rectified in time. First, he wanted revenge. The cursed orangette would suffer.  
The frown morphed into a smirk as he zeroed in on the Kurosaki twins. It'd be too simple to just torture or kill the man...so why not let him watch as all those he fought for fell instead?

...Working for the Incubators would only be temporary. Once his objective was in his reach, he would discard them.

Sosuke Aizen faded back into the shadows.

In time, everyone would bow to him.


	21. Chapter 21

Ichigo Kurosaki was starting to let his anger towards the Incubators get the better of him. He patrolled the city whenever he had the chance, trying to find them as quickly as possible - they needed to have a talk with his zanpakuto. And his hollow. With lots of explosions. Perhaps a casualty or two.

He also went to Urahara's shop daily to see if the man had any luck reversing the conversion of his sisters' souls into soul gems...and always came back out just as disappointed.  
Even Orihime apparently couldn't do anything about it; the Incubators clearly had anticipated the possibility of anyone trying to undo the damage, because they found themselves rushing her to the nearest hospital when Karin's soul gem reacted violently, and unexpectedly released a wave of condensed magic directed at the orangette before anyone had the chance to react. Because of it's fiery nature, she got horrible burns all over the more important internal organs, and was currently still in a coma despite their efforts in discreetly using healing kido whenever the nurses had their backs turned.  
Had it have been anyone else in their group, they probably would have been able to power through it, but Orihime wasn't used to receiving grievous injuries since she never really got on the front lines during the Winter War.

Ichigo made sure there was always someone to keep an eye on the twins - or more specifically, their soul gems - to make sure they weren't too corrupted and didn't get attacked by other Puella Magi, and his father accompanied the two in the labyrinths whenever he wasn't available. He even convinced his father to have them homeschooled to get rid of the possibility of them going in a labyrinth alone during school hours or lunchbreak.

Needless to say, the girls didn't appreciate being 'continuosly stalked', as they put it, and perhaps the older teen wouldn't have been so obsessed if it weren't for his_absolute failure..._but now, Ichigo couldn't care less.

He had to protect them properly this time. If that meant stripping away their freedom until the situation was finally dealt with, then so be it.

...He desperately wanted revenge on the Incubators.

The orangette was abruptly brought out of his thoughts when he felt a burning glare on the side of his face. He turned to see an angry Karin and a tired but upset Yuzu.  
He thought of scolding them for being up at this hour - it wasn't even five a.m yet - but didn't bother. It wouldn't work anyway, not with he way the relationship between him and his sisters was beginning to strain thanks to their lack of freedom.  
Ichigo was wondering why the two had come into his room without knocking though, but Karin answered his question before he had the chance to ask.

"IT'D BE FUCKING NICE IF YOU'D STOP THROWING YOUR GODDAMN REIATSU AROUND! HOW THE HELL DO YOU EXPECT _ANYONE_TO SLEEP WHEN WE ALL FEEL LIKE WE'RE ABOUT TO BE MURDERED?!", she yelled to his face, not caring in the least about the fact that she'd probably woken up the whole block with her screaming.

"You know I can't control it. Deal with it.", he replied coldly, not in the mood for this so early in the morning.  
Lately, he'd been having nothing but conflicts with the ravenette it seemed. The same could be said with Yuzu ; she ignored him for the most part and only communicated with him whenever she deemed it necessary - which was, as it turned out, incredibly rare. Both were giving their father the same treatment, though it didn't really seem to affect him. Ichigo could only wish he had that kind of patience.

"DEAL WITH IT, HE SAYS! I'M TRYING TO PROTECT YOU, HE SAYS! _SCREW_ YOUR DUMBASS VERSION OF PROTECTION! ALL YOU'RE DOING IS IMPRISONING US!", the black-haired Kurosaki roared, red with anger.

Frustration joined the anger in his reiatsu.

Why couldn't they understand?! He was trying to help them for god's sake! Were they really that immature?!

Yuzu's eyes narrowed dangerously. Of course she heard that. No concept of privacy whatsoever, he couldn't even think freely anymore! Fan-fucking-tastic!

"I DON'T _CARE_IF YOU CAN'T SEE THAT I'M TRYING TO DO WHAT'S BEST FOR YOU! IT'D BE NICE IF YOU'D JUST _TRUST -!_"

"Yes, well why don't we take a look at where trusting you has got us.", Yuzu cut in with a quiet but acid tone. Not waiting for him to answer, she started counting off her fingers.  
"First of all, you didn't tell us enough about just about everything and we always had to rely on an outside source - usually Hitsugaya-kun - because you supposedly would keep us safe _by making us ignorant_. I sure felt safe when I was kidnapped and dragged to hell - _literally_\- without even knowing what was going on, and not having the faintest clue how to defend myself. Second, you clearly weren't paying attention when Karin and I were taken into the first labyrinth we'd ever encountered. Had you have been monitoring us, you would have noticed our reiatsu dissappear, but you had no clue _anything_had happened - even though Karin was obviously disoriented and I was wearing borrowed clothes when we came back home that day. In fact, daddy was the one to tell you that my reiatsu was missing. I'm sure the both of us felt _incredibly_ safe knowing that you never noticed! Last, but certainly not least, with the way you've been treating us, neither of us have had pleasant emotions lately, meaning that our soul gems are getting much darker a lot faster than the usual. But, I suppose you don't care about that, do you? Oh, and it's been harder to find witches lately, but of course you've been completely oblivious to that as well."

The brunette raised a brow, as though challenging him to tell her that a single thing she'd said was wrong. Ichigo stayed silent, having nothing suitable to reply. She sure knew how to hit where it hurt.  
As though trying to make him feel worse, she added:

"And a nice bonus is the fact that you knew something happened to Akemi-san once Ishida-kun called to notify you of it, _but decided that we didn't need to know that._ Don't try to deny it, I heard you. I'm absolutely sure you would have wanted to know if something happened to a friend of yours, wouldn't you? But, nah, your friends' safety is much more important than that of ours.  
You aren't protecting us, Onii-chan. _You're being a selfish asshole._"

The orangette just glared at the wall behind them, trying hard to reign in his nigh-uncontrollable temper. Yuzu had _never_ spoken to him like that before (or cursed, for that matter).

"...Get out of my room.", he growled.

0.0

_Homura woke up to a completely different environment._  
_She could tell without looking that she wasn't injured in the least, though that directly contradicted what had transpired before she had lost consciousness._

_Everything felt...different. Off. Like she was there but she wasn't at the same time, almost._

_Her senses came to her, and she finally opened her eyes._

_Nothing made sense._

_She was on the roof of a building — a skyscraper — that was engulfed in violet flames, along with the rest of a very developed city. Purple meteors rained down and wrecked havoc all around, puppet-like children floated in the air, repeatedly screaming "Gott ist tot!", and there was a black void above her instead of a sky._  
_Red webs connected all the buildings of the city, and the air smelled of lilies despite all of the smoke rising from the fires._

_Despite the chaos and destruction, Homura was strangely...at peace. It was like she'd known the place her entire life, and had just remembered, as strange as it seemed._  
_The ravenette wasn't startled when she heard an emotionless voice from her right, although she had absolutely no idea anyone else had been around._

_"...I see you finally came."_

_She turned to face the owner of said voice, and saw something she wasn't entirely sure she wasn't expecting._

_What seemed to be a woman at first glance floated beside her, gazing stoically at the city. She was so pale she practically looked like porcelain, and her impossibly long jet-black hair trailed on the ground behind her. She had unnaturally glowing red eyes, with red tear tracks down her face. She also wore an extravagant black gown with a dark purple ribbon around the waist and a crown of red lilies._  
_Homura wasn't entirely sure if she considered her to be beautiful or creepy._

_The woman didn't bother turning her head to face her, instead settling for glancing at the ravenette out the corner of her eye before focusing on the destroyed city once more._

_"Who are you?", asked Homura, surprising herself. She really should have asked where she was, or perhaps how she got there in her opinion._

_"...You may call me Homulilly.", she answered flatly._  
_"As for where you are, you are currently looking in your soul. It would seem that that hideous creature has tampered with it, however. What a shame...I enjoyed the stargazing while it lasted."_

_Homulilly momentarily looked up, before continuing :_  
_"You have business outside. Leave."_

_And with a dismissive flick of her hand, Homura was gone._

_..._

...

...

Homura opened her eyes — her _real_ eyes — with a start, finding herself in a bedroom she didn't recognize.

The teen immediately summoned her soul gem, and to her shock, it looked completely different.

Instead of seeing what would look like a decoration in the shape of a fabergé egg, she found herself looking at what was eerily similar to a grief seed. Her purple gem was now a sphere, located where there would normally be an empty hole in the middle of a regular grief seed.

She turned it back into it's jewel form — which was now, as it turned out, an earring — as an aura...no, a reiatsu signature came towards her, and the individual opened the door.

It turned out to be the same young man she saw just before losing consciousness.


	22. Chapter 22

_Destruction. Chaos. Bloodshed. Death._

_It all happened simultaneously, as screams of the victims — innocent and guilty alike — rang in the air._

_The white Puella Magi almost immediately found the cause of all this devastation, idly watching in the sidelines as the war continued._

_Kyubey...no, the Incubator then twitched it's ear, as though listening to something, before many other Incubators rose to the skies, the clouds parting, as__**something**__golden glowed in the middle of it all. _  
_A black-haired Puella Magi — Homura Akemi — and a white-haired boy in black robes — Toshiro Hitsugaya — leaped up to try to interfere with whatever it was they were doing, but was too late._

_Emerald eyes__watched in horror as literally every being alive suddenly stopped fighting and began writhing in agony as their very souls were converted into energy. Their bodies dropped to the ground, dead._

_Her surroundings started to dissipate, slowly turning into pure energy._

_Just as the world began to crumble and fall apart,__everything was engulfed in white, as she felt herself get pulled out of her premonition._

...

...

...

Oriko Mikuni jerked up, her previous mission of eliminating Madoka Kaname all but forgotten. She didn't know what had happened for the future to change so drastically... But what was done was done.

Steeling herself, the blonde Puella Magi tied her hair into its usual side-ponytail, and called out for her loyal friend.  
A Puella Magi with short, choppy black hair and amber eyes arrived shortly, and Oriko gave her a gentle smile, as though she wasn't about to deliver ground-breaking news to said girl.

It didn't matter if her target had changed; her world was still at stake.

She knew what she had to do.

0.0

Sayaka Miki stared blankly at the ceiling in her bedroom.

...he really was gone, wasn't he?

She wasn't dreaming at all...was she?

The bluenette turned to see Madoka, who'd passed out a few hours before.  
That girl was probably the closest she'd ever have to family. After failing to get Sayaka out of the house, she'd made sure the teen at least ate properly, and managed to coax her into getting a change of clothes before proceeding to play a few board games and talking about random things, never once even touching the subject of Kyousuke's demise.

Gingerly sitting up, she opened a small box on the night table, finding a small, golden necklace with a sapphire pendant — a gift she'd been given on her last birthday. She treasured the objet like it was sacred; almost as if her life depended on it.

She could still remember that day in perfect detail.

{~$~}

_Her mother had finally, finally been scheduled to come back to Mitakihara from her business trip; and it'd be just in time for her birthday. The bluenette was so excited and eager to please that she'd immediately gotten to work, cleaning the entire house, putting up handmade decorations, cooking up a feast and baking a large chocolat cake herself — she even made the frosting and, with much difficulty, put some beautiful, chocolate accessories on it._  
_And then she waited._

_And waited._

_And waited..._

_After a few hours of watching the door, ever so excited to welcome back her mother, she decided to call and see if the plane was late, and everything came crashing down._

_She wasn't coming. She'd decided to go sightseeing with her friends over in California instead._

_Sayaka had spent the entire afternoon preparing everything for nothing._

_A few hours after she'd tearfully ripped down all the decorations, shoved the food she'd made into the fridge and locked herself up in her room, a knock came at her door. She hadn't been in the mood to answer, and ignored it._

_Whoever it was continued knocking for a solid ten minutes, before seemingly giving up._  
_She didn't care._

_But then, a familiar pinkette came directly into her room through the bedroom window, and screamed 'Happy Birthday ' as loud as she could, a bright smile on her face, with the small present in hand._

{~$~}

Shaking away the memories, the teen finally decided to wear it for the first time. Why not, after all?  
It was about time she moved on anyway. It wasn't like she was a stationary zombie or a cursed rock or something.

Madoka was obviously the only person who truly cared for her now (except maybe Hitomi and her newer friends); her parents were perfectly fine with casting her away whilst shutting her up with enough money to live on, and Kyousuke...Kyousuke was gone for good. She could grieve, yes... But her friend was still there for her.

She would have to settle with what she had.  
Sayaka heard Madoka groan as she woke up, rubbing at her eyes as she shifted, then sat up. She stared at her blue-haired friend — likely wondering why she was there when she awoke — before perking up and asking Sayaka for the time.

It was just past five thirty in the morning. Fairly early, in Sayaka's opinion.

It _was___a tuesday though, so she'd have to get up soon and go to school if she wanted to avoid being absent a second time. Resigned, Sayaka sighed as she stood, going down to kitchen after having offered one of her uniforms to Madoka and letting her use the shower — the girl was still in her uniform from the day before, now wrinkled and a little dirty, and she knew the pinkette wouldn't be comfortable going to school looking like that.

...

In fresh uniforms and ready for the day, the two girls unanimously decided to go to Akemi's house to pick her up since they were actually a little early.

Sayaka knocked on the ravenette's front door a few times, and both girls were slightly surprised when they weren't answered — that girl was usually pretty quick to open the door.

The two friends were, understandably shocked when a very tired-looking Tomoe answered the door instead, dressed in casual clothes, and informed the two that Homura was currently recovering from seemingly grievous injuries she'd received the night before. What exactly happened, however, was a mystery.  
Suzuki and Hitsugaya had gone to check on her, though she was doing just fine according to Yasutora's friend, who'd been the one to find her.

Tomoe, who'd been exhausted because of the day before, had reluctantly chosen not to go to school for once upon both Yasutora's and Suzuki's insistence, and called the school to inform them that she 'wasn't feeling well'.

Disconcerted, the two teens made their way to school, encountering Hitomi along the way like they normally would... But it didn't feel the same.  
Sayaka hadn't anticipated just how hard it would be to focus in class, instead feeling worried sick about Akemi. Hours passed achingly slowly, and by the time it was lunchbreak the girl thought she'd go insane.

She knew she'd been told not to worry about the ravenette, but an undeniable feeling of dread plagued her gut, and the fact that Kuchiki was absent as well didn't help. Madoka obviously had her thoughts elsewhere as well, as she hadn't payed attention to a single word Hitomi had told her during the entire period of lunchbreak.  
As the bell rang, signaling the end of lunchbreak, the bluenette had had enough.

It wasn't like she cared much for the history lesson she was supposed to attend anyway.

Approaching her pink-haired friend, she tapped her shoulder to get her attention as the latter packed away her bento.

"I'm ditching, Madoka. I gotta go see Akemi."  
Madoka whirled around, shocked, and gave her a scandalized look.

"S-Sayaka! We have a test next period and you already skipped school yesterday! I know you're worried about Homura-chan — and I don't blame you for that — but is that really a good idea?!", the pinkette whispered, wary of anyone in earshot.

The blue-haired teen sighed.  
"I... Just call it a gut feeling, okay? I don't think... I mean, I feel like we're missing something here. Something's not right... Just... I gotta go."

Instead of receiving the frown of disapproval she was expecting, her childhood friend's eyes widened incredulously.  
"Y-you too..? I've been feeling the same since this morning..."  
She but her lip, facial expression alternating between worry and confusion, before settling on shaky, but tentative determination.

"Alright then... But I'm coming with you!"

"Eh? Isn't your mom gonna get angry though? This is the second time you're gonna miss school, and this time you don't even have a good excuse from her point of view...", Sayaka said skeptically, wondering just how the pinkette planned to keep herself out of trouble.  
Said girl just shook her head.

"I'll worry about Mama's reaction when I get back, and let her know in the meantime that I might come home late. This is more important. We should get Mami-san too; she wouldn't want to miss this if something is really going on."

0.0

Several Incubator terminals took their designated places across Japan, releasing large amounts of hollow bait specifically designed to attract Gillian-level hollows as the protocol had indicated.

Unbeknownst to the majority of the human population, several gargantas would soon rip open the skies, putting their first step to the plan in motion.

...

...

...

A lone Incubator watched as a confused Hitomi Shizuki looked around the school, unable to locate her two friends.

Contracting the girl hadn't originally even been considered — her potential wasn't the highest — but she would be by far the easiest in the group to manipulate thanks to her ignorance, and would make a bigger impact faster than most other potential contractees.

By timing this right and saying the right words, the Incubator would be able to use her to eliminate a few potential threats.

For the first time in centuries, the Incubator smirked, practically splitting its face in two, its eyes glowing an ominous red.

Let the games begin.


	23. Chapter 23

Mami fiddled anxiously with her blouse as she waited impatiently for the next stop.

After having been informed about an hour and a half prior that Miki and Kaname were going to forego school in order to see Akemi and make sure that everything was, in fact, alright, she'd agreed to join them. Yasutora came as well, having called in sick for the day. He had even offered to let the others - Suzuki and Hitsugaya - know, so there wouldn't be any surprises if they crossed paths or they got back to Mitakihara only to find the house empty.  
Both of the other girls had high levels of unease, and that had set her on edge. What if something really was wrong? What if Akemi actually did need help? Or were they all just being paranoid? The blonde truly hoped that that was the case; they were still quite far from her.  
Akemi was currently in Yokohama, while they were still in Kazamino.  
The only individual who seemed to be calm was Yasutora, who was as quiet as always. If only she was as easygoing as he looked - the train ride probably wouldn't feel like it was taking so long if she'd had that quality.

Said man must have noticed her state of mind, because he gave her a thumbs up and a slight smile, as though trying to reassure her. She couldn't help but give him a grin of her own, though it was a bit forced.  
Mami went back to looking out the window, wishing she'd been there for her friend. Maybe, just maybe, if she'd been there, she could have helped.  
Perhaps none of this would be happening if she'd been more reliable, and had checked on her after school. She frowned as guilt ate at her, and promised herself that such a thing wouldn't happen again. Not if she could help it.

"Mami-san..."

Why couldn't she be a better friend? Was she always going to fail at this sort of thing? She wasn't going to lose Akemi like she had for Kyoko...right?

"Mami-san..."

No, no, no. She wouldn't be so useless. She couldn't be...

"Mami-san!"

Startled, she turned to Kaname, who stared out the window, and slowly but shakily pointed towards something outside.

"W-what is _that_?!"

Mami followed the girl's gaze and looked towards the sky. At first, she saw nothing and was momentarily confused.

But just as she was about to look away, a part of the sky cracked then ripped open as though it were paper, revealing giant, horrid black figures with white masks that almost instantly poured out of the sky and landed in the city. They destroyed everything in their paths and killed dozens of people at a time, either by blasting them to oblivion or devouring them.

Kaname screamed at the sight as did many other passengers who happened to be looking out their windows on that side, while Mami just gaped, shellshocked.  
Yasutora, who had clearly just sensed what was happening since he couldn't see what was going on from his angle, was the fastest to recover and immediately activated his fullbring. The older teen didn't bother going for he door, instead smashing the window and jumping out. He went straight for the Gillians, clearly intent on preventing any more damage.

The train drove past all of it within seconds, leaving Mami vaguely wondering what had just happened before she was brought back to reality by Miki frantically shaking her. Kaname was trembling, eyes wide, and all of the passengers on the train were now panicking wildly, creating total and utter chaos.

With a start, the blonde teen finally triggered her transformation, and told her two friends to stay in the train while she'd go help Yasutora. She then left the two scared girls behind as she swung out the window.

The teen, who'd been ready to backtrack a few hundred meters towards the Gillians, failed to notice another rip in the sky above her until it was too late.  
All she heard was a massive _roar_, before she heard a loud crash followed by many more screams of terror.

A Gillian had just torn off the entire front part of the train, letting dozens of passengers fall a few hundred meters to their deaths. Another smashed its face in near the middle, halting what was left of the vehicle in its tracks - and definitely crushing people in the process.  
Thank goodness Kaname and Miki were in the back.  
Reacting quickly, Mami conjured ribbon nets to save those falling from the monster's jaws and summoned her signature giant musket, aiming at the second one.

_"Tiro Finale!"_

The hollow's mask shattered on impact, but many more of them clawed their way our of the sky. Mami grimly realized that she couldn't possibly return to Yasutora without leaving all of the innocent people she was trying to save along with her friends at the mercy of the hollows.  
Knowing she could no longer assist her friend as she'd intended, she tried to believe that he'd come out in one piece and focused on her own battle. The blonde knew she wouldn't help anyone by dying.

Once Mami had secured as many passengers of the train as she could by making a barrier over them, along with other people nearby, she was finally able to let loose. She no longer bothered to be particularly careful about damaging property ; having scanned the area with her magic, she could tell that the area was already practically deserted. Everyone who could flee had already done so, and she was grateful for that.  
Unfortunately, in the short amount of time she'd taken to ensure the safety of those around to prevent any more victims, the number of Gillians had increased drastically.

Suddenly, a blur of red sliced through a large number of the monsters, and a familiar redhead appeared at her side in a flashstep. Mami just stared with wide eyes, not quite believing just who had come to her aid.

"S-Sakura-san...?"

The red-haired Puella Magi barely spared her a glance, scowling fiercely.

"The hell are you standing there for?! _Get your dumb ass into gear and fucking help me out here!_"

0.0

"Karin, as much as I agree with the fact that onii-chan was going overboard, is this really a good idea? I think he'll just get more worried..."

Karin just looked at her twin, unimpressed, before refocusing on her soul gem. The two were walking down a narrow alley of a dingy part of town just out of Karakura.  
They'd just escaped their brother and had gone witch hunting only to find that there wasn't a single one in their territory. Clearly, someone had been snatching them under their noses, and Karin was intent on repaying them in kind, but for now, they desperately needed grief seeds.  
Yuzu's soul gem in particular was getting much too dark for comfort.

Suddenly, the green gem started to glow brightly, and the ravenette nearly cheered. This was definitely a witch, and it was a strong one. It would be difficult to defeat for sure, but she was sure that the reward would be worth the trouble.

She turned to her sister and nodded, and the two transformed before flash-stepping to its location.

Both of the girls ignored the gargantas that were tearing open the skies. They knew that the residents of Urahara Shop and some fullbringers would deal with them soon enough.

A few twists and turns later, they found themselves in an old, abandoned warehouse. Neither hesitated to open and enter the labyrinth. They couldn't afford to let another girl get to the witch first.

The moment they were inside, incredibly bright lights momentarily blinded them to the point that they actually had to heal their eyes from the damage and use magic to protect their vision. A current pulled them downward, and while neither fought against it, they made sure there weren't any familiars in their way as they went.  
They seemed to be simply falling into a pure void of light, and there was only the color white as far as the naked eye could see.

Karin immediately tried to speak with her sister, but no sound came from her mouth. Said brunette noticed and activated her telepathy.

_"I don't think sound works in this labyrinth. none of the familiars are here, so there's a good chance they're with the witch-"_

Yuzu silently veered to the left as a large laser from a previously unnoticed cartoonish headless purple tutu-wearing mannequin passed the spot she'd been in from far below.

_"N-nevermind...",_she thought, sending a blast of magic from her staff as dozens at a time rippled into existence. However, her attack was much weaker than usual, and it only singed her target instead of eliminating it. A look of fright crossed Yuzu's face before she made an effort to cover it up to avoid worrying Karin, but it was too late. She saw her.  
Yuzu really didn't have much magic left.

Karin grit her teeth in resignation as her chakrams bursted into emerald flames and she gained a slight greenish hue. If the two girls were going to survive, she was going to have to do the brunt of the work. Her sister just wasn't in shape for battle.  
Hopefully, the boost she was getting thanks to the brunette's vulnerability would be enough for them to pull through. She doubted Mao would appear out of nowhere to save them, and her brother and father probably had their hands full considering the sheer amount of gargantas that had opened while the two had gone witch hunting. Plus, this witch's barrier was in foreign territory, where another Puella Magi could attack at any time.

Maybe this hadn't been such a good idea after all.

Yuzu fell back as Karin charged in, cutting through as many mannequins as she could and throwing chakrams at those that were out of reach, making a path for her sister to freefall without worrying too much; the brown-haired teen could still dodge any incoming attacks if it became necessary.

The light of the void only seemed to get brighter the deeper they went into the labyrinth, and eventually, the light was too much even with her efforts to protect her eyes. Eventually, the ravenette was reduced to fighting blind and deaf, relying solely on the accuracy of her magic sensing. It wasn't as sharp as if she were trying to sense reiatsu, but it was good enough.  
Thank goodness Mao had thought of training her to fight while being stripped of her sight and hearing; she'd have been done for otherwise.

On instinct, she switched from falling headfirst to the opposite, and hit a hard surface. She caught her sister - who was now too busy conserving what little was left of her magic to actually sense anything - and spread her magic.

Nothing.

All of the familiars had dissappeared in one go, and while she knew the witch was nearby, she couldn't tell where it was. Setting the brunette down on her feet, she poked her, and felt Yuzu's telepathic link open in her mind. She worriedly noted that it was quivering, barely staying intact, and she knew that she had to be quick about it.

_"Sorry Yuzu but this one's urgent. The witch is obviously good at masking it's presence; I don't know where it is, where it could attack from, or if what I'm feeling is just a decoy..."_

Yuzu's magical signature switched from fright to foreboding almost immediately, and Karin felt a chill run up her spine. Something was very, very wrong here.

_"...Witches shouldn't be smart enough to know how to do that, Karin."_

_"I know, dammit!"_

_" Just be careful. We're too far in to go back now; I don't think the two of us would survive all the way. I'm really sorry I can't help you right now Karin, but I'll just be a hindrance if I try to do anything."_

_"...Fuck. "_

_"Yeah, we're up shit creek without a paddle."_

The link closed, Yuzu's magical signature decreased drastically - meaning that she'd undone her transformation, something the brunette wouldn't do in labyrinth unless she was truly desperate - and Karin was feeling the pressure of being their only way out. She couldn't make a single mistake, or it'd be the end for the both of them.  
The black-haired Puella Magi wasn't dumb; their chances of getting out alive considering the circumstances were slim - and her sister thought the same, if her incredibly unusual and out of character cursing was any indication.

Taking a deep breath, she focused on sensing where they were standing, and spread it to their surroundings to try and determine just what kind of challenge they were facing.

What she found wasn't promising.

They were on one of many floating platforms, just above a void that stretched for miles - where she could vaguely sense the dark aura of witch, carefully and neatly intertwined with that of thousands of familiars.

Unable to determine its exact position, she would be forced to actually guess where to attack.  
And she'd have to do that while making sure that an incredibly weak Yuzu stayed out of harm's way. The only way she could actually get the girl to move from her position if it ever became necessary would be to physically move the girl herself - she had no way of communicating with her, and said girl couldn't see, hear or sense anything without wasting what little was left of her precious magic.  
The witch wasn't doing anything for now, but she'd already learned the hard way not to trust that. The second she so much as made a hint at attacking, she'd get shot down if she wasn't careful.

In short: _they really were up shit creek without a paddle_.


End file.
